When the Truth Becomes a Lie
by Wickked1
Summary: Harry is injured while at Privet Drive the summer before his last year at Hogwarts. He's taken to Head Quarters to heal and he meets a strange boy there. Dumbledore's actions make Harry question him and begins digging for answers. Full summary inside.
1. Prologue

Story Name: When the Truth Becomes a Lie

Rating: M

Warnings: Language, Slash, Detailed Violence/Abuse, Manipulation, AU, Weasley/Hermione bashing, Dumbledore bashing, Grey!Harry

Genre(s): Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Mystery, Supernatural

Summary: After Harry was severely injured during the summer at his relatives, he was taken to Head Quarters to heal. He meets a new boy that is also staying there, orphaned by a Death Eater attack and is intrigued by this strange person. Harry is also starting to question Dumbledore's motives in the war and begins searching for his own answers with the help of some people that share his views. Harry's life gets much more interesting with the new information he has acquired and he learns that not everything is as it seems.

*Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form. Any characters you recognize from the books/movies belong to J.K Rowling. The plot and added characters are my own.

Prologue

He walked down the street at a brisk pace, keeping his head down but his ears open to the sounds around him. The warm summer night seemed unusually dark with only the dingy street lamps to light his path, and the streets and alley ways that were normally packed with hookers, drug dealers and the homeless, now seemed quite empty. Something wasn't sitting well with him; he could feel it in the pit of his stomach. He quickened his already hurried stride and kept himself thinking that he was only a couple blocks away from home. Time seemed to pass slowly when in reality it took him only a mere five minutes to reach his house, unlock the door and step inside silently. The boy sighed in relief as he closed the front door, checking one last time that nobody had followed him and locked it. Although he hated the late hours he needed the job, and his mother needed the help financially so he did what he had to do to pitch in. His mother would already be asleep so he didn't bother announcing himself as he put his house keys in the dish on the little table by the door and turned to hang up his summer jacket. Needless to say, he was quite startled when he heard the floorboard creak behind him. He tensed for a brief second before rationalizing with himself that it was most likely his mother that had woke up from the front door opening. Having yet to turn around and still anxious from his walk home, he let out a shaky laugh.

"Jeez mom," the boy said. "You almost scared the living daylights out of me! I just got home, obviously. How was your day?"

"I'm afraid, Mister Kaleb O'Neil that your mother is not in any position to tell you how her day was…."

* * *

A/N: Hehe, I know I'm evil hey? Cliffhanger on the first chapter*laughs devilishly to self as she dodges flying food* Kind of surprised myself, I didn't know it was going to end up as a cliffy….I hate cliff hangers. Well, unless I'm writing them. XD But do not fret for too long…I'll upload the next chapter ASAP….which means I want some reviews!!! Pretty please?? With sugar and melted chocolate on top…mmmm…. =D Actually some ideas would be lovely since this is the first fan fic I've wrote in a couple years. Since….May 27, 2007 to be exact, I know boring info you don't really need to know. Gotcha. Really though, I don't want this to be your same old there's a new guy, someone falls in love (most likely harry) guy gets kidnapped, Harry saves him, they both kill Moldy Voldy and then Viola! Happy ending…..I'm getting a little bored with that, as I'm sure many other readers are as well…wow this is a long spiel…So any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism would be appreciated and if ANYONE has any ideas I'd love to hear them. And I love reviews, they make me do happy dances and they are also a great cause for motivation, cuz I'm not gonna write if people aren't reading this…well maybe I will I dunno, we'll see lol. So it's been a while, this might take some time, but I'm really hoping that I'll get some support and motivation cuz I'm sick of being stuck in writers block…cuz seriously? Who gets writers block for more than two years? Me apparently… Enough randomness from me, click the review button!!

P.S: The next A/N won't be as long, promise .


	2. Chapter 1

Story Name: When the Truth Becomes a Lie

Rating: M

Warnings: Language, Slash, Detailed Violence/Abuse, Manipulation, AU, Weasley/Hermione bashing, Dumbledore bashing, Grey!Harry

Genre(s): Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Mystery, Supernatural (Genres may change)

Summary: After Harry was severely injured during the summer at his relatives, he was taken to Head Quarters to heal. He meets a new boy that is also staying there, orphaned by a Death Eater attack and is intrigued by this strange person. Harry is also starting to question Dumbledore's motives in the war and begins searching for his own answers with the help of some people that share his views. Harry's life gets much more interesting with the new information he has acquired and he learns that not everything is as it seems.

*Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form. Any characters you recognize from the books/movies belong to J.K Rowling. The plot and added characters are my own.

Chapter One

Harry Potter was in the back yard digging up weeds, planting new shrubs, laying down mulch and doing pretty much anything else a person could think of doing in a back yard on a summer day...in plus thirty five degree weather. Whoever had thought of this brilliant plan was seriously off their rocker. Oh right, his relatives. He stood up and cracked his sun burnt back and wiped the sweat dripping off his brow then glared at the scorching sun that seemed to have its heart set out on torturing him on this sweltering summer's day. Plunging the shovel into the flowerbed that he had just dug out he grabbed his dirty shirt that he had thrown off a few hours ago and headed towards the house to grab a glass of water and maybe a late afternoon snack.

"Boy, if you come in here with those _filthy_ shoes on, I swear I will smack you so hard that you'll be seeing stars!" Vernon screamed from the living room where he was watching television. Harry just rolled his eyes as he was taking his shoes off and promised his uncle he wasn't going to be walking around the house with his dirty shoes on. After all, he was the one that cleaned it and it didn't make sense to him that he would dirty what he had cleaned, and would have to clean again. As he was cursing to himself about how stupid his uncle could be at times, he walked to the kitchen and fetched himself a glass of water. When he looked out the window, that was surprisingly closed, he saw a tawny owl with a paper clutched in its talons.

_'Shit, that's probably the Daily Prophet' _He quickly put down his glass and mentioned he was going to use the bathroom before going back to work and ran up to his bedroom. After making sure his Aunt or someone was going to spy on him, he closed the door quietly and opened his window. The owl flew in and dropped off the paper. He absently put a sickle in the pouch the owl was carrying while untying the paper, quite anxious to see if there had been anymore attacks. He quickly scanned the paper and just as he had found the section where it mentioned that there was another attack, he heard his uncle's mammoth footsteps on the stairs. Hurrying to hide the Prophet, he just managed to grab a clean shirt before Vernon slammed the door open.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing in here, eh? You've got chores to finish! I'll not have you leave the yard looking like it is right now! People will think we've turned into slobs! So moving your fucking arse before I throw you out there myself!"

"I was just grabbing a clean shirt Uncle Vernon, I'm not skiving off of my chores," Honestly, Harry was so sick and tired of all the shit he had to go through every day from his relatives. How can they treat him like dirt when he's the one cooking their meals, cleaning their house, and doing any kind of hard work around here? With that, he made to pass his uncle to finish the rest of the yard but his uncle's large arm blocked his way and pushed him back. Harry looked at him with confusion for a second before the anger on Vernon's face registered in his brain.

"What did you just say to me boy?" Vernon's voice was low, which was an unusual change to his typical yelling and hollering.

"I said I was just grabbing a shirt. Why's it such a big deal, your yard will get done so there's no need to worry. You'll have your perfect white picket fence yard soon enough," Harry snapped. He was so tired, sore and stressed that he didn't much care of what came out of his mouth so he said whatever had come to mind first. Apparently, it wasn't such a good idea. Before he knew what had happened he was on the floor with a bruised jaw and a sore wrist from throwing his arm out behind him to break his fall. His uncle glowered over him with a near purple face and rage that was quite apparent in his expression.

"You little piece of shit. You think that you can waltz around this house disobeying me and then giving me attitude like that. Huh? Is that what you think you freak? After everything that Petunia and I have done for you, you can't be grateful enough to do the things we ask? Is that really..."

"Grateful? _Grateful?" _Harry yelled back. "You expect me to be grateful after all the crap you put me through for my whole life because of who or what I am? And since when do you _ask_ me to do anything? You don't ask me, you make me! If I don't do what I'm told then I don't get food, or I don't get the _privilege _of leaving my room. Since when is leaving someone's room a privilege? And you expect me to be fucking _grateful? _Well guess what? Fuck you!"

Everything that Harry had been feeling the past years he'd lived with his relatives was boiling inside of him and he felt helpless to control it. It was as if he had no power over what came out of his mouth, as if someone else was in his body making him spill all his anger, frustration and bitterness without thinking about where it would put him. He was so blinded by his own anger he didn't see his uncle move towards him and he was mildly surprised that a man of that size could move so fast before pain exploded in his head. He couldn't hear what Vernon was screaming at him, the pain was blocking out everything as his head was smashed repeatedly into his desk. Finally, his uncle stopped and threw him on the ground again where he curled up into a ball and clutched his throbbing head.

"See what happens when you disobey me Potter? Let's get one thing straight, I run this house, not you. I tell you to dig up a new flower bed for your Aunt, you do it. I tell you to cook dinner, you do it. I tell you to get in your room and stay there and not come out, YOU DO IT! I don't give two fucks what that old crack job at your freaky little school has to say, if you disobey me then it's my job to punish you as I see fit," Harry looked up at his uncle and saw a disturbing smile creep onto his uncles face before his head throbbed painfully again and he closed his eyes.

"Let me tell you boy, I'm gonna enjoy this," Vernon grabbed the front of Harry's shirt, threw him against the wall, and started punching him where ever his fists landed. Harry was helpless to stop his uncle as the man was probably three times his weight and his head throbbed painfully every time he moved. For the first time in his life, he was actually afraid of what his uncle would do to him, and if he'd stop before he killed his nephew.

Harry was thrown across his room, punched, kicked, beaten and when Vernon had stopped, the seventeen year old boy was barely conscious and bleeding profusely. Harry heard his uncle leave the room and a wave of relief and pain washed over him as he lay on his floor in a crumpled mess. He was quite sure that he had a broken a rib or two, and his nose felt like it was sitting at an odd angle. From the metallic taste in his mouth, he figured it was bleeding pretty badly. When he tried to sit up he felt pain sear through his entire body and he collapsed against his bed. Breathing heavily, he slowly crawled over to his trunk at the foot of his bed and searched for his wand. It was getting difficult to breathe properly and he vaguely wondered if his uncle kicked him hard enough to damage his lungs. While slowly rummaging through his trunk for his wand, he heard footsteps on the stairs again and he froze. A cold sweat washed over him and he could feel his heart pounding against his chest. Fear driving him, he looked for his wand more vigorously than before and just has his hand closed around it his uncle grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him backwards. His vision grayed when his head hit the floor with a loud _'thump' _and his ribs started burning even more as he coughed trying to catch his breath again.

"The _fuck_ is this Potter?" His uncle roared at him. "You trying to put some kind of curse on me or something? Is that what you were trying to do you filthy, low life, piece of shit? You think you can treat me like this you little _freak_, in my own house! I think it's time I put some manners into that thick skull of yours."

When Harry tried to plead to his uncle to stop he got a kick in the face for his efforts and cried out when he felt his nose being crunched into his face even more. He could hear his uncle moving around and placing objects on what was probably his desk. When he tried to open his eyes however, he found that one was swollen to the point that he couldn't open it at all and the other was bleeding badly. He kept them closed and just listened as he lay on the floor in agony wishing he could just die. He had forgotten about his wand in all the commotion and the pain of his bruised and battered body, so when Vernon had taken it from his limp hands he felt dread, anger, and most of all pure terror.

Vernon chuckled darkly to himself as he held his nephew's wand in his hands. Normally he would be disgusted to hold such an object but now, knowing he was in complete control and Potter was helpless to defend himself he had no qualms of holding the offensive stick. Gazing down at his nephew curled up in a little ball on the floor, the look of agony on his swollen, bloody face he felt pure glee well up in his chest. Finally, after all these years of taking care of this, this monstrosity he could do what he wanted. He and his family didn't have to be threatened by him any longer.

"So," Vernon said his voice seemingly calm. "You were going to try to do something to me eh? Cast a little spell and then everything would be ok. Is that what you thought Potter?" He grinned when he heard a whimper escape from the boy.

"Well I guess you can't do much without this stick of yours huh? So I'm just going to put it over here so that I don't have to worry about you grabbing it and trying to off me." Vernon set Harry's wand on the desk among all the other objects he had brought up to 'punish' the boy then grabbed a kitchen knife and turned to face the boy again. He'd opened his one eye somewhat since it had stopped bleeding as bad but he seemed to be having a hard time keeping it open. Again, Vernon chuckled to himself, loving the fact that the boy was so helpless and knowing he couldn't do a damn thing to stop his uncle.

Vernon walked towards his nephew and stood over him holding the large knife by his side and flicking it back and forth, taunting the boy with the gleam of it.

"See this here boy? This is going to be the first step to your punishment," Vernon said.

He crouched down then took the boy's shirt and cut it in half with the knife starting at the bottom and flicking the knife upwards when he cut through the collar, nicking Harry's throat. Harry tried to push his uncle's hands away when he felt the knife cut him but he was smacked across the face again so he lay still waiting for whatever his uncle was planning for him. The odd and slightly manic gleam in his uncle's tiny dark eyes unsettled his stomach even more than it already was and thought of any kind of escape. None seemed too plausible with his injuries and the fact that his uncle was holding a rather large kitchen knife worried him as well. Harry watched with one eye as Uncle Vernon lightly drew the knife across his bruised stomach and sides, occasionally poking a little harder here and there. Harry tried to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat but found that it was dry and he coughed again causing the knife that was just below his belly button to dig into his skin a little harder, a bead of red welling up. Vernon slapped him again and told him to shut the hell up as he pushed the knife a bit harder. Harry gasped when he felt the bite of the blade and closed his eyes trying to block out the pain.

"Now you think this is bad, boy? Just you wait; I've got many surprises in store for you," Vernon grinned again and took the knife off the boy's stomach. Just as the cold blade left his skin, Harry lunged at Vernon ignoring his ribs screaming at him and thinking only of hurting his uncle so he could get away. Unfortunately, his brain decided to not cooperate and he suddenly had a wave of vertigo hit him, and he fell over sideways right next to his uncle, his head swimming and vision spinning. His uncle gave a cry of rage and Harry felt him punch him in the ribs again and the nausea he was feeling finally became too much and bile and blood came spewing from his mouth.

"You shit! You little shit! You just don't quit! See if you can move after this!" Vernon took Harry's arm and ran the knife roughly down the inside of it making blood roll down his arm to drip on the floor. He continued in this way, rage clouding his vision. Randomly picking areas to cut, he stabbed, tore and ran the knife along the boy's body ripping off his dirty, too large jeans in the process. Harry's skin burned, he could feel the tears streaming down his face as he cried out to his uncle to stop and tried to fight back but the man was much larger and stronger than he was.

Occasionally he felt the knife sink in a little too deep and then it clicked in his mind. Amongst the fear and the pain, he knew he was going to die. His uncle would kill him, Voldemort would take over the world and he was completely helpless to stop it all. Harry realized that Vernon had stopped cutting him and was now back at his desk. He tried to move his shaking limbs into a more comfortable position but every movement he made sent surges of pain through his body.

Vernon had dropped the bloody knife on the desk and picked up a jug of Clorox that was under the kitchen sink. Fury had taken hold of his mind completely and all he could think was that he wanted that boy to _burn_. Taking the bottle over to the boy, he stood over him and splashed a fair amount randomly on him.

Harry smelled it before he felt it. The sickly clean disinfectants scent you smell every time you walk into a hospital or when you're cleaning the bathroom. The scent and thought barely registered before the burning sensation took hold of him. The chemical had seeped into the cuts and gashes and was eating away at his flesh and all he could do was scream and thrash around, this agony dulling any other pain he felt. Harry wasn't sure if it was worse than the Cruciatus Curse because it was only in the areas the chemical touched the wounds but the _burning_, oh god, the burning wouldn't stop and it hurt so much.

"Hurts doesn't it Potter? Tell me, would you like some more?" Harry whimpered, and cried, and screamed as his uncle continued to torture him. He was transferred to a different dimension, a different realm where he could feel only pain and he thought he was going mad. He didn't know how much he could take and he was sure that if there was a hell, it would feel like this. Soon his body couldn't take anymore and his mind had to step in and save him from the torture and he was again transferred from that dimension to another, and everything went black.

~*~*~*~

When Harry woke, his mind was blank. He couldn't remember what had happened or why he was on the floor, or what time it was. His body felt heavy and numb and when he tried to move his right arm pain exploded within him and the memories of the past hour or so came rushing back, making his head pound. He groaned and didn't move, but was wondering where his uncle had gone. He could feel the dried blood all over his body, and he slowly turned his head to look at his arm and saw it was bent at a very odd angle. He came to the conclusion that his uncle continued to beat him after he had passed out and broke his arm probably by stepping on it.

Looking out his window he saw that is was dusk, the sky was turning to purples, reds and oranges and the fluffy clouds were a bright pink. The stars were just starting to sparkle, signaling that the sky would soon be dark. It represented the exact opposite of Harry's life in that moment and he despised the sky and its twinkling little starts that reminded him of his headmaster's eyes. He didn't have much time to ponder on his thoughts because he heard someone walking down the hall. Turning to look to his door too quickly and putting a knot in the muscles in his neck, he waited with apprehension to see who was going to appear in his doorway. His uncle appeared with a blank expression.

_'Fuck, fuck, FUCK! If I'm not dead now I will be…oh god why is this happening?' _Harry thought with anguish and he closed his eyes to try to escape the nightmare he was trapped in.

"I see your awake now. Good, I was going to do this earlier, but I decided I didn't want to miss the look on your face," Vernon said. Harry had no clue what his uncle was talking about but with everything that had happened today, he was positive it wouldn't be good. He watched his uncle like a hawk as he walked into his bedroom, sat on his bed across from him, and just stared at Harry. Then he pulled out a thin, brown piece of wood with a simply carved handle and held it in front of him.

When Harry saw his uncle holding his wand a second time that day his heart jumped to his throat and he could barely breathe. There was no possible way his uncle could hex him because he was muggle, but that wand was basically his whole life. It had saved him countless times and it was as if it was a part of who he was. So to see someone holding it that despised him and magic so much scared the shit out of him.

"You see, the thing is Potter, I'm sick of you. I'm sick of your shit, I'm sick of watching you everyday to make sure you don't screw something up, or steal something from me, but most of all…I'm sick of _this_," Vernon held the wand a bit higher and continued to speak.

"I'm sick of this little piece of wood that is _always_ scaring the living shit out of me and my family. You think that you're so tough because you can do a little 'abra kadabra' and then _poof!_ Everything is, as you want. It's not normal boy, it's not right. This _thing_ and _you _are an abomination of this world. You think you're so much better than we are but really, you're all just _shit!_ And I'm tired of it, so I'm going to do something about it." Harry watched his uncle take the wand in both hands and put both thumbs underneath and start to put pressure on both ends of the wand and he watched in what felt like slow motion as it slowly started to bend. In that moment Harry could say he'd never felt rage as he did then. It bubbled and boiled in his chest and he didn't care that he couldn't move or that he was probably bleeding internally and going to die of blood loss, he felt fire in his chest and he was _pissed_.

_"Drop. It. Now." _His uncle stopped and looked at Harry in shock but shock quickly turned to anger.

"What the _FUCK_ did you just say to me _BOY_?" Vernon bellowed and harry felt the vibrations through the floor but he did not falter. His anger could match his uncle's. _**Nobody**_ fucked with his wand.

"I said _drop it,_" Harry growled. He glared back at his uncle with defiant eyes and put forth all his anger and pain into his gaze. Vernon felt a shiver of slight fear crawl up his spine at the murderous expression on his nephew's face, but he held his ground.

Vernon smirked. "Make me boy, you can't move can you?" He took hold of the wand once again and proceeded to snap it in half but Harry would not have it. He felt something within him break. He did not know what it was and he didn't much care now, all he knew was that he wanted to hurt his uncle and make him pay for _everything_ he had done to Harry in his life. The rage boiled harder and he felt it build in his chest, and before he knew what he was doing, he called his magic from deep within him and mingled it with his anger. He felt its warmth spread throughout his body and he channeled it through his mind, looked at his uncle, and said two words before he let it burst from him in a blinding, fiery red light.

"Fuck you."

* * *

A/N: Whoa….yeeaaah, that wasn't supposed to be so detailed but it just kinda came out. The warnings I have posted may happen, have happened or will happen, some of them may not. They're just there to tell people what _may_ come up in the story. Just to be clear. So the next chapters probably won't be up as fast as this one went up because I already had this written when I posted the prologue, so it'll be a bit longer than before but I promise I'll have it up as soon as I can. Thanks to everyone who is reading this story, again any suggestions, anything to point out, things like that are welcome. =D R&R please!


	3. Chapter 2

Story Name: When the Truth Becomes a Lie

Rating: M

Warnings: Language, Slash, Detailed Violence/Abuse, Manipulation, AU, Weasley/Hermione bashing, Dumbledore bashing, Grey!Harry

Genre(s): Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Mystery, Supernatural

Summary: After Harry was severely injured during the summer at his relatives, he was taken to Head Quarters to heal. He meets a new boy that is also staying there, orphaned by a Death Eater attack and is intrigued by this strange person. Harry is also starting to question Dumbledore's motives in the war and begins searching for his own answers with the help of some people that share his views. Harry's life gets much more interesting with the new information he has acquired and he learns that not everything is as it seems.

*Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form. Any characters you recognize from the books/movies belong to J.K Rowling. The plot and added characters are my own.

**Note: Dumbledore does NOT die at the end of Harry's sixth year and Snape doesn't go running off with the death eaters.**

Chapter Two

There were voices, unrecognizable, muffled, and distorted. Movement. Flashes of pain, brief seconds of it, then everything was numb again. Panic. What was going on? Skin felt like sand. Floating in a haze of confusion, emptiness, and darkness. Then there was warmth. A comfortable blanket of warmth and a light. It was getting brighter, a hand reached out to it. Then nothing….

~*~*~*~

Harry's mind woke before his body. He kept his eyes closed and listened. There was no noise, nothing at all. He shifted slightly and he felt his body twinge uncomfortably from the movement. Whatever he was laying on was soft and warm. A bed perhaps? Why was he lying on a bed? Shouldn't he still be on the floor bleeding to death? Harry moved his right arm slightly and felt something attached to it. More accurately, something attached to his hand. He squeezed his fingers lightly and realized it was another hand in his. Confused and shaken he pried open his eyes. Although the room was dim, having been unconscious for however l long he'd been out, his eyes were not accustomed to any light. Blinking away the black spots and squinting against the minimum light in the room, he looked over to whoever was next to him. Everything was blurry, but he could make out a person sitting in a chair to his right, slouched over with their head resting on the bed sleeping. Harry couldn't see whom the person was but they had short tawny hair it seemed, and their hand felt thin and dry. The person's clothes looked dull. Through his blurry description, Harry guessed it was Remus Lupin beside him. Now he was wondering how the hell he got here. Here being what he assumed was Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, Head Quarter's to the Order of the Phoenix, the only place he could think they would take him if it was the Order that had found him.

Harry didn't want to move too much for fear of disrupting something and causing himself more pain, but he was rather curious as to why he was alive right now and what had happened after he had passed out again. The last thing harry remembered was the intense rage he felt and the massive burst of magic he had let out at Vernon. It had taken so much energy out of him and he had already lost so much blood that he could not hold onto consciousness long enough to see the damage he had caused. Shifting himself a little higher up on the pillows with a great deal of effort, Harry decided it was best to let Remus know he was awake. Harry squeezed his hand again with more effort and tried to wake Remus. His voice was so hoarse from the screaming and his throat so dry that he could barely speak above a whisper. After a third try he had been able to rouse the werewolf from his slumber.

Remus blinked a few times and tried to figure out what had woken him. He quickly found the reason when he saw Harry slightly propped up on his pillows and looking at him with an expression of confusion and slight impatience. A wave of relief washed over him and all traces of sleep disappeared as he gently but enthusiastically embraced Harry.

"Oh thank Merlin! Thank Merlin you're awake! I thought I'd lost you. Oh god Harry, I'm so sorry!" Remus felt the prickling behind his eyes and moisture well up in them. A few tears trailed down his cheeks before he released Harry and brushed them away, while smiling softly but looking worried as well.

"What? Remus, I don't…What do you mean, why are you sorry?" Harry was even more confused than before by Remus' reaction. What had happened while he was out?

"Oh, I didn't mean to confuse you Harry, but I'm just so happy and relieved to see you awake. Do you want anything? Some water maybe?" Remus conjured a glass of water for the teen. Harry hadn't realized just how thirsty he was until Remus mentioned water. The cool, wet liquid helped to soothe his dry throat. Putting the glass on the nightstand when he was finished, he asked:

"So what happened? How'd I get here?"

"We found you Harry. Tonks, Dumbledore and I found you at your uncle's. Do you remember anything?" Remus asked quietly, almost as if afraid he'd upset Harry in some way. Harry's eyes grew bitter but he just nodded his head.

"Well, I guess an alarm went off or something in Dumbledor's office because the wards were broken. He floo'd here and told Tonks and I to come with him because he thought that Death Eaters may have broken in. When we got there however there were no Death Eaters. It didn't seem like there was anyone home actually. We feared that maybe they had already taken you, so we searched the house. Harry, when we found you, you were…you looked, dead. I thought you were dead and there was so much blood…" Remus took a shaky breath and ran a hand through his hair then continued.

"Dumbledore cast a spell and said you were still alive, just barely. I almost didn't believe him. We brought you back here and you were in such rough condition that Dumbledore had to get Madam Pomfrey from Hogwarts. Severus even had to get some potions from his personal supply for the tissue and nerve damage. It seemed like no matter what we did, we couldn't get you stable and then you…" Remus' voice trailed off and he shook his head, looking quite distressed.

"Go on Remus, I'm listening," Harry prompted. Remus looked at him again and nodded.

"You…died Harry. You went into cardiac arrest you were clinically dead. I was so, so scared. Poppy tried a muggle thing called I think it was CPR? Yes, that was it, but it didn't work. So she tried shocking you. I was beginning to lose hope but after the third try, god I swear it was a _miracle_, because your heart started again and it was as if you had healed the worst of the internal damage. I don't understand _how_ it could've happened and I would never have believed it myself if I hadn't been right there. Apparently, it was your magic that kept you alive. Dumbledore said that your magic pretty much took over your body and became its life source. I've never heard of such a thing before. That's the only reason you were still alive when we found you. It was a true miracle. Harry, you have no idea how happy I am," Remus was crying again but he was overjoyed that Harry was alive and healing. Harry however was stunned. How could that have happened? He remembered the surge of power, but could he have actually done that?

"Did you, by any chance, see Vernon anywhere?" Harry asked hesitantly. Remus looked perplexed for a moment before grim comprehension took over.

"We saw the hole blown in your wall, right through to the other room and your uncle was, well he was dead," Remus hesitated a moment. "Did you do that to him?"

Harry looked away from Remus and didn't say anything for a couple minutes. Then he slowly nodded his head. He didn't feel guilty. In fact, that was the most powerful and in control he had felt in a long, long time. Harry believed that Vernon got what he deserved, especially after what the sick fuck did to him. He raised his head to meet Remus' gaze and saw in it understanding and a flicker of anger.

"I want to make something clear Harry; I do _not_ think you are a bad person. Nor do I believe you are evil. I'm assuming that the wounds were from the muggle?" Harry nodded again. Remus took Harry's hands in his own and looked at him straight in the eyes.

"You did what you needed to do to defend yourself. No matter what anyone else says or thinks, he had no right to do that to you," Remus said fiercely.

"I know that. Really, I do, and I'm ok. I'm not going to be all weak and skittish now just because that asshole thinks he could do whatever he wanted to me. He pissed off the wrong person. The only thing I'm concerned about is how the hell I did that and why you're sorry," Harry wanted to make it very clear that he was not someone that would break from this kind of thing. Yes, he was in pain and yes, he was a bit shaken but he felt different somehow. When his magic had surfaced as it did, it changed something in him, snapped something that had been holding him back in a way.

"Are you sure? Harry most people would be ruined after going through something like that."

"I know but I'm not most people am I? I've been through a _lot_ of shit in my life Remus, it's built up over time, I can take more than what most people can, and I know that. It's not the first time he's ever hit me, or even beat me; he's just never done it to that extent. Besides, I don't have to worry about him anymore right? I'm not going back there, I'm seventeen so I can leave right?"

"I'm assuming so. I had always thought that the wards would break on your birthday but apparently not. Dumbledore must have done something to modify them. He hasn't said yet what is going to happen; I would think that you'd stay here for the rest of the summer. I highly doubt that he'd send you back there, even if that man is dead there are no more wards there to protect you," Remus explained that the wards that were placed on the house were to break on his seventeenth birthday because then he'd be a legal adult in the wizarding world. However, they didn't so there must have still been other wards that Dumbledore place on the house.

"I remember what Professor Dumbledore told me about the one's that would break on my seventeenth birthday but he said nothing else about the others. I asked him one time if I could just go straight to the Weasley's for the summer holidays and he said I had to go back to the Dursley's for a while first. Something about as long as I call that place home I would be protected there or something…but if that's true, why didn't they break sooner?" Remus thought for a moment, but could not think of a reason why. Then Harry reminded Remus that he hadn't answered his two questions from earlier. Just as Remus was about to explain the bedroom door open and Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape and Madam Pomphrey stepped into the room

"Oh! You're awake! Thank the Lord Mr. Potter, you are definitely a true fighter," Poppy exclaimed and started bustling around and checking Harry's vitals and shoving potion's down his throat. Harry shifted uncomfortably, hating the fact that she was fussing over him like a mother hen when he kept telling her he was fine. Professor Snape was looking at him with a blank expression, different from the usual loathing sneer he shoot's at Harry. Professor Dumbledore was watching Harry with an almost merry expression upon his face and that same twinkle in his blue eyes. Harry was reminded of the dusk sky that was a canvas of colors and stars just starting to peak out moments before Vernon had tried to snap his wand in half. Wait a minute, where was his wand?

"Did anybody happen to find my wand by any chance?" He was slightly worried that maybe he had destroyed it himself when he blasted his uncle through the wall.

"Don't worry about your wand Harry; it is perfectly safe and sound. As are the rest of your possessions. They have been brought here to Head Quarters as well, seeing as you will not be returning to your relative's house this summer," Dumbledore's light tone floated through the air as if there was nothing out of place and Harry frowned slightly. He had retrieved his glasses from the nightstand while talking to Lupin and searching the room, he did not see his trunk or his owl, Hedwig, anywhere.

"Where are they? Did you get everything?" He asked.

"Some of your things were destroyed by the…explosion I guess we could call it. We salvaged everything we could," Remus sounded remorseful, knowing that Harry valued most of his possessions very highly as he had never had many things to call his own. Harry closed his eyes as he felt a prick of anger irritate him and sighed. When Poppy had finished her checkup she left the room and closed the door behind her, but not before warning everyone that her patient needed plenty of rest and to not stress him out any more than he already was.

Harry looked at the two new members standing in his room, waiting for someone to say something. When they didn't he rolled his eyes and looked down at his blanket, playing with a loose thread. Here he was lying in a bed apparently still not well enough to leave it with three adults that seemed reluctant to share any information at all when that was exactly what he needed. He had questions for the headmaster about the wards and why his magic took over like it did and how it was possible that he was still alive. Becoming frustrated by the lack of conversation he sighed and snapped at Dumbledore.

"So is anybody going to tell me what the hell is going on? Remus has told me as much as he could which is a lot better than what you've been doing lately _Professor_." Harry felt anger and hostility towards his headmaster and it seemed to come out of nowhere, but he'd had enough of being in the dark when he was the one that was supposed to save the whole world from Voldemort. How exactly is he supposed to do that when he doesn't have information?

"I apologize my boy, I'm just happy to see your ok. Is there something you wished to discuss with me?" Dumbledore smiled at Harry in that grandfatherly way that irritated him even more, apparently missing the fact that Harry was quite irritated.

"Yes actually, I have lot that I would like to 'discuss with you' professor. Like, why was I ever placed in that situation to begin with, why the wards did what they did, and what the _hell_ is going on with me? There are probably a few more things as well but that seems to be the most important, wouldn't you say professor?" He was being rude and sarcastic he knew that, but it was exactly what he wanted to know, and he wanted to know now.

Dumbledore thought for a moment. He didn't want to give too much information to the boy so as not to rouse suspicion, but he had to say something otherwise he could have a very pissed off powerful wizard on his hands. He hated to admit it, but Harry was quite a lot more powerful than he ever suspected, especially now that he had somehow broken the bind that Dumbledore had put on him. He would have to explain what happened with the wards but he had to find some way around telling the boy that his magic had broken free of its bind. As for the accusation that Dumbledore knew about the abuse, well, he'd have to play up the old Grandfatherly figure a bit more than usual.

"You see Harry, when you no longer thought of your relative's home, it broke the wards," Dumbledore started

"Yeah, I know that already, why didn't they collapse sooner? Why did I have to go through all that shit and then _die_ when, I could have been out of there when he first started beating on me?"

"Well, that I'm a little confused about myself, I put up the wards very carefully to ensure your safety but it seems something went amiss," Harry scoffed at the word safety as he hardly believed that he was ever truly 'safe' in that house. Not getting the answer he wanted, he became even more frustrated. Just about to snap at the headmaster again, someone else decided to intervene.

"Professor, if I may, didn't you say something earlier about the boy's magic, 'breaking free' was the term you used I believe? Maybe that had something to do with the wards, as we were discussing downstairs," Snape's slightly bored tone was laced with something else, but Harry wasn't really paying attention to that. He was more concerned about his choice of words… breaking free? His magic broke free? He thought back and that's what it felt like but what was it breaking free from? Throwing a questioning gaze at his headmaster, he saw a flicker of something that looked like fear in the older man's eyes. It was only there for a brief second before he sent another grandfatherly smile at him.

"Well it didn't 'break free' per say Severus. It seems more like it…awakened. Yes, that is a good word to use; your magic woke and protected you from harm because it sensed that you were in a very dangerous situation. It may have broke the wards its self with the power that you seemed to have used to, throw your uncle away from you,"

"I didn't 'throw him away from me,' I blasted that bastard through the god damn wall because he was going to snap my wand in half. And just so you know, I did it on purpose," harry seethed at the memory of his uncle holding his wand and suppressed another wave of intense magic running through him and continued, "How does magic awaken anyways, and how can it sense that I'm in trouble, it's not like it had a mind of its own."

"Oh no, you are correct, it does not have a mind of its own, but it does react according to our emotions and your subconscious may have lashed out with it to protect you. As for the awakening, some wizards do not use their full potential of magic until they need it. Some go their whole life without ever using their full potential. Things you do not need to worry about, I assure you my boy," Dumbledore explained. Harry looked at Snape and Remus to try to get anything else out of it, but all he got was a slight frown from Remus and a twitchy eyebrow from Snape. Realizing he wasn't going to get anything else out of the subject, he questioned the professor why he was ever placed in that situation to begin with, and made it very apparent that he was not happy about it.

Dumbledore did not like the look the boy was giving him so he put up the grandfather façade and explained that he had never suspected that the muggles would do such a horrible thing, especially to a young boy and ignored the indignant exclamation from Harry that he was "not a boy anymore thank you very much" . Dumbledore then went into explaining that they were his only living blood relatives and that Harry was safest with them before he was interrupted by a very pissed off teenager.

"Safest? You think I was _safe_ there? I just found out forty minutes ago that I had _died!_ That doesn't sound very safe to me," he grumbled crossing his arms in defense. He knew he sounded and probably looked like a child pouting with is arms crossed but he didn't really care because he was not feeling like his headmaster had done a very good job to protect him at all.

"I truly am sorry my dear boy, I had assumed that since they were your relatives they would take you into their care with no questions and I…"

"Why didn't you check up on me? When you saw me in my first year, you must have realized I was a little too small and too skinny for my age. When I asked if I could go to the Weasley's straight from Hogwarts you should have known there was something up, so why didn't you check in?"

'_There, take that Dumbledore, how're you going to get yourself out of that one?' _Harry was feeling a little smug at the fact that he felt he had one over Dumbledore and not expecting him to say what came out of his mouth next.

"Harry I know how you are feeling right now, I had another student that felt the same way about his summer holidays. Tom Riddle had asked me if he could stay at Hogwarts during the summer because he disliked his holidays at the orphanage. It is normal to feel upset and angry after an event like this but I'm telling you that there is no need for you to return there, you are safe. Remember we are here for you," Dumbledore was speaking softly and slowly as if speaking to a child and Harry looked at him as if the man had slapped him across the face. Did Dumbledore seriously just compare him to Voldemort? Ok…now he was livid.

"You, you, I….leave. Please leave me alone, I'm tired and I need to sleep." With that, Harry turned over on his side, ignoring his ribs twinge and glared at the wall ahead of him. Dumbledore was hiding something from him that much Harry had figured out. He heard the old man sigh and leave his room but he didn't hear the other two footsteps follow him. After a minute or so he turned back over and snapped at them

"What? Do you have anything else to say?"

"Potter, as much as I don't like you, there are a few things that Lupin and I need to clear with you, when you are healthy again and can get out of bed. For now just sit tight and try not to destroy anything else will you?" Snape sneered at him and left the room in a flurry of robes. Harry watched him leave as well, trying to glare a hole into the back of his head.

"I'm sorry Harry, I should have noticed the signs, I should have been there…I'm sorry," Remus sounded quite upset with himself and Harry felt himself relax.

"It's ok Remus, I don't blame you. It wasn't your responsibility to check on me, or anything. You don't have to be sorry."

"But, your parents and Sirius…"

"Remus, it's ok. Honestly. I'll see you later ok? Don't stress yourself out over this." Remus smiled gratefully but still had guilt over the situation. Remus would have been the next in line to take guardianship over Harry if he hadn't been a werewolf and even though he didn't have a little piece of paper that said so, he felt the need to protect Harry, because he was really all Remus had left for family. Remus left the room and closed the door behind him so Harry could have peace and quiet.

Although Harry had said he needed his sleep, that was the last thing on his mind at the moment. He ran over the conversation with Dumbledore in his head and felt that something just didn't add up. He knew the old man was hiding something very important from Harry and he didn't like it. Harry had always looked up to him as a support system, someone he could trust and talk to about Voldemort but now…now it seemed, different. Harry didn't know if it was because he had changed or if this was something that had been going on for a while but never noticed before. Something else that didn't seem right was Remus and Snape's reactions to what Dumbledore was saying. When Snape had mentioned about Harry's magic 'breaking free', it was almost as if the potion's master was trying to tell Harry something, or prompt the headmaster into admitting something. Whatever was going on Harry was going to find out what it was. He couldn't wait until he was allowed out of this bed, but knowing Madam Pomfrey, it would probably be weeks.

* * *

A/N: This chapter is mostly to set the mood between Harry and Dumbledore. It seemed a bit drawn out to me, but I wanted to be clear about the emotions and thoughts. If it seems too stuck on one thing, tell me and I'll try to stay away from that in future. Thanks again to those who are reading this story and remember, Reviews make me happy! =D criticism and/or suggestions are very much appreciated.


	4. Chapter 3

Story Name: When the Truth Becomes a Lie

Rating: M

Warnings: Language, Slash, Detailed Violence/Abuse, Manipulation, AU, Weasley/Hermione bashing, Dumbledore bashing, Grey!Harry

Genre(s): Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Mystery, Fantasy

Summary: After Harry was severely injured during the summer at his relatives, he was taken to Head Quarters to heal. He meets a new boy that is also staying there, orphaned by a Death Eater attack and is intrigued by this strange person. Harry is also starting to question Dumbledore's motives in the war and begins searching for his own answers with the help of some people that share his views. Harry's life gets much more interesting with the new information he has acquired and he learns that not everything is as it seems.

*Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form. Any characters you recognize from the books/movies belong to J.K Rowling. The plot and added characters are my own.

Chapter Three

A week and two days later, Harry was allowed to leave his bed. He had never felt as trapped as he did then and was reminded of Sirius and how he had to stay locked up at Grimmauld Place day and night, never being allowed out. Pushing the depressing thought to the back of his mind, he made his way to the kitchen. More than a week of eating only soup and some mushy substance that could barely pass for food had Harry starving for a real meal.

During his stay so far Harry had learned nothing more of his 'incident' at his relative's house. Dumbledore had not visited Harry after their talk and seemed to be avoiding him at all costs. Not that Harry cared too much, he was more concerned about getting out of that prison so that he could talk with Remus and Snape. Harry did however learn that he had been unconscious for three days after he had been brought to Head Quarters and there was a high possibility that he could have slipped into a coma and never come out of it, which was why everyone seemed so relieved that he was awake. Well that and, you know, the fact that he had died was a little worrying as well. (Harry still couldn't really get his head around that.) The Weasley's had showed up the day after Harry's 'discussion' with Dumbledore and Hermione came the day after that. At first Harry was ecstatic to see them both but after a while he noticed that they got on his nerves at times, more so than usual. Ron couldn't seem to stop complaining that Harry was stuck in bed and that they couldn't play quidditch here and how the summer homework was sooo boooring and difficult. Hermione, when she first saw Harry screamed like a banshee and launched herself at him almost re-breaking his right arm and suffocating the teen, then proceeded to chastise him for casting magic outside of school, even if he had just turned seventeen. The only thought that crossed his mind was _'I'm stuck in this bed because I was beaten to a pulp by my uncle, died and came back to life and you're criticizing me for defending myself? Really?' _Harry tried his best to ignore his friends' immaturity and blindness but sometimes it just became too much. There were many times he told his friends to leave so he could rest when really all he wanted was to just get away from the bickering and squawking at each other. Apparently they hadn't figured out the concept that arguing constantly usually meant there was some amount of sexual tension between the two of them. Harry shuddered after that that thought, really not needing the mental image it brought up.

As Harry was about to step into the kitchen he heard two hushed male voices speaking rapidly. Thinking it may be something important as well as something that he wasn't supposed to be listening in on, he did just that. Hiding in the shadows of the stairs he crouched low and listened intently.

"I don't think it's a good idea, at least not yet. If we put any more stress on him, he could have a relapse. Just because he's allowed out of bed today doesn't mean he's fully healed, he needs time," Harry could tell it was Remus speaking by the weariness that was present in his gentle voice. He guessed that whomever he was speaking to he wasn't on the best of terms with because he detected a hint of strain in the man's voice as well.

"Lupin, your babying him. He doesn't need to be babied, he needs to be prepared and that is not going to happen if he does not know what the situation is, you know that just as much as I do. Although I hate to admit it, the boy has proven himself more than capable of handling this type of situation, and if you were paying attention, you'd notice he has already started to pick up on certain things. Maybe it's a good thing his uncle beat the shit out of him, it seems to have opened his eyes," That was obviously Snape. Harry was slightly surprised though, he'd managed to compliment and insult Harry at the same time. Something was obviously going on that he wasn't fully aware of, yet. Apparently Remus didn't like the last little comment however.

"How dare you say that? Harry deserved _nothing_ of what his uncle did to him! And I am _not _babying him. I am only looking out for his needs, his body is still weak and he cannot handle too much stress! I'm aware that he needs to know what is going on but now is not the best time. If we could just-"

"Oh please Lupin! Open your god damn eyes will you? Potter has only three weeks before he has to return to Hogwarts. He needs to know what is going on and he needs to know _now_. There is no time to protect and coddle him." There was a tense silence for a moment then a female voice spoke

"Maybe, if we just took it one step at a time? We could tell him about the kid now and wait a couple days before explaining the other stuff. I mean he's going to bump into him eventually; it's not a big house. But I do agree with Severus, Harry needs to know as soon as possible. He's a strong kid, he can take it and like Severus said, he's already started noticing things," Harry wasn't sure exactly who the woman was. His stomach decided then to complain quite audibly and Harry remembered why he had headed towards the kitchen in the first place. He decided that now was as good a time as any to announce himself. He stepped out of the shadows and through the kitchen door just as it seemed Remus was about to argue his point again. Remus abruptly shut his mouth and the three adults stared at Harry and he could feel the atmosphere become very uncomfortable. He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and made his way to the refrigerator.

"Hey Tonks, I didn't know you were here. So what were you guys talking about?" Harry didn't see the looks the adults exchanged among themselves, as his head was buried in the fridge but he did notice the stiff silence. Grabbing some chicken, lettuce, carrots and tomatoes he closed the door and turned to face the adults. He watched Severus and Remus argue silently and shook his head then continued to prepare his meal.

"You know, whatever it is you're arguing about you should just tell me. I heard what you were saying before I came in here so I know it's about me."

"Potter, do you have any idea what the word privacy means?"

"Yes, I do know what the word privacy means _Professor_ Snape, however you're going to end up telling me anyways so why not tell me now?" Harry stared back at his professor with an "I dare you to" look and tried not to smirk as the man almost seethed at the teen.

"Although I have no problem telling you the situation, the wolf on the other hand seems to have gone into mother bear mode," Snape growled. Harry snorted with amusement and looked at Remus who was glaring daggers at Snape. Tonks was watching the three of them as if it were a three way ping pong match and just sighed and took a sip of her tea. It was probably best not to get in between a snarky potions master, an annoyed werewolf and a persistent teenager she decided.

"I am not over protecting him, I'm doing my job. Who else is going to look out for him now that…never mind. I believe we should discuss this a bit more before we go throwing out information, Severus," Remus turned to leave the kitchen, thinking he had made the final say.

"Now that what Remus? Sirius is dead? He's been gone for two years now, and yeah I miss him, a lot, I'm pretty sure you do too but I would like to know what the hell you are talking about. I'm sick of being stuck in the dark all the time, and Dumbledore obviously isn't going to tell me anything. He never really has, and I don't think that Sirius or my parents would want me to walk straight into a cross fire, especially if it can be prevented…I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with Snape," Harry crossed his arms and made his face stern, leaving no room for argument. Tonks' eyebrows rose to her hairline as she witnessed this surprising development unfold before her eyes. Remus seemed at a loss for words and was starting to look quite helpless and she knew that he didn't have anything else to go on. Snape was watching Harry and Remus with a smug expression, knowing he had won the battle.

"Alright, we'll talk Harry, but not right at this moment. Later, I promise, and we'll answer any questions you have. I just wish we had more time," Remus sighed and half smiled at Harry before leaving the kitchen. Harry went back to cooking the chicken and making himself a light salad.

"I'm leaving right away but I will be returning for our discussion Potter. Meet Lupin and I in your room at seven tonight,"

"Hey!" Tonks interrupted. "What about me? I'm in on this too ya git!" Snape nearly growled at her and disapperated with a sharp _crack_. Tonks grumbled to herself as she too left the kitchen, forgetting all about the teenager that was watching her hair flash angry colors. Harry, chuckling to himself quietly, ate his meal and headed towards the den. There were a few old books there, most of them seemed boring but he picked one anyways and sat down on the dusty couch and started to read. Most of his summer homework had been destroyed from when he blasted his uncle through the wall and a few of his own books as well. Harry read the dry novel until he started to zone out and got up to hide in his bedroom. He hadn't seen Ron or Hermione today and he would rather keep it that way.

Just as he was about to head up the stairs, he noticed someone else coming down them. Harry watched as a boy that looked to be around his age, maybe a little older, descended the stairs. His hair was a light rusty brown color with the tips dyed black. It was long enough to cover his ears and styled in a shaggy mess. His skin was pale and in the gloomy hallway, it almost seemed like he emitted a soft glow, a visible aura of sorts. The boy's eyes, which Harry couldn't quite see very well in the dim lighting, looked exotic from where he was standing, a light color, possibly close to amber. He was about the same height as Harry, 5'7 and he was a bit lanky but not skinny. More lean than anything and Harry could tell by the T-shirt that seemed to be a little small on him that he kept himself physically fit. Something around the boy's neck caught Harry's eye and he realized it was a necklace. A choker which looked like it was made out of thin rope material with an uncut crystal dangling from it. If Harry didn't know any better he would have said it was quartz, but it had a wet and slippery look to it even though it was not polished. Harry met the boy's eyes and realized he had been staring, but felt a little better once he noticed the boy was evaluating him as well. Overall, the boy was quite attractive and he had a dare devilish look to him.

'_Hang on, did I really just think that? …Mmmk then…' _Harry was slightly disturbed by his wandering mind but shook the thought away. He'd never seen this guy before and was wondering where he'd come from and what he was doing here. Harry then remembered Tonks saying that they should tell Harry about the new kid. Apparently they forgot to do that. Assuming this guy was the 'new kid' he introduced himself.

"Hey, I've not seen you here before. I'm Harry," He said. The teenager didn't seem to be too bothered by Harry but introduced himself as well.

"Kaleb," He paused. "You probably haven't seen me around 'cause you were held up in bed for the past week. Didn't you die or something?" With that he brushed past Harry and made his way to the library leaving Harry standing there to gape at the space in front of him. After getting over his shock of the brusqueness from the teen, Kaleb, he turned around and followed him to the library.

"Uh, what? Where did you hear that from I didn't-" Kaleb stopped and turned to face Harry with an unimpressed expression

"I heard it from the two men that you were bickering with in the kitchen earlier. The werewolf seemed quite concerned over you if you must know. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to study in peace. Thank you," Kaleb swiftly walked away and left Harry to stand in the middle of the hallway wondering who this person was and where the hell he came from.

'_How'd he know Remus was a werewolf….and how'd he hear us arguing, we weren't speaking that loud were we?' _Lost in his thoughts Harry didn't hear his two friends come up behind him

"Harry! Oh there you are, we've been looking all _over _for you! Come with us, Ron and I were about to finish our homework. Well actually, _Ron_ is going to finish his homework. I on the other hand am just doing some research. You know for the horcrux's," Hermione startled Harry when she mentioned the horcrux's he shushed her, worried that maybe Kaleb was listening in on them for some reason. From what he had showed Harry, he seemed a little full of himself and Harry didn't trust him. He felt himself being pulled past the shelves and towards one of the tables and realized with slight dread that they were heading towards the table that Kaleb was currently sitting at.

"Oh, hello there! I'm Hermione Granger and this is Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. I hope you don't mind if we sit here? We were just about to do some homework. I think I've seen you before, but it was just a glance of course. What's your name?" Harry rolled his eyes at his friend. Despite her tactlessness Kaleb only looked up once from his book and shrugged his shoulders while announcing his name. Satisfied with his response Hermione and Ron placed themselves opposite of Kaleb, forcing Harry to sit beside the teen. Sparing only a glance at him, he focused on what Ron had left for his summer work. Because his work was destroyed in the 'incident' he was excused from it, but he had a feeling he would have to do a lot of catching up if he didn't understand the material he was given to study. Buckling down he tried to pick up what he could from Ron's scribbles and half hearted notes, half an hour later however he could not comprehend what Ron was trying to do with the assignment and gave up trying to make sense of it. Apparently Ron was getting quite frustrated as well because he threw down his quill proclaiming he couldn't do anymore and it was completely impossible to finish.

"Honestly! I can't believe that Professor McGonagall would give this as summer homework. It's completely barmy I'm telling you! Man Harry, you're so lucky you don't have to do this mate," Ron slouched back in his chair, shoving his work away from him, almost dumping it in Kaleb's lap in the process. The teen quickly glanced at Ron in annoyance before returning to his book.

"Actually Ron," Harry started. "I would have liked to have done my summer homework, but I guess that's a little difficult when it's been fried to ashes isn't it?" Thinking that would get across to Ron that he was a bit annoyed at the whole situation. However, Ron wasn't known for picking up on subtle hints…well he wasn't known for picking up on hints of any kind really.

"Why would you want to do that? And you never did tell us what happened mate, but I bet it was bloody brilliant eh? What was your uncle do-"

"Nothing Ron, never mind." Harry pinned Ron with a look that said 'don't go there.' And thankfully the redhead got the message. He just shrugged his shoulders and started to look around for something interesting to do while ignoring Hermione's poking and prodding to get him to finish his work. Harry just sat and watched them while they bickered, having nothing else to do and not wanting to be so rude as to get up and walk out. Eventually Hermione went back to the encyclopedia sized book she was reading and Ron tried to get a glimpse at what Kaleb was reading.

"Hey mate, what's that you got there? Is it any good?" Kaleb didn't answer for a moment. Then he lifted the book a bit higher so Ron could read the title of it.

"Yes, I'd say it's a fairly good read. If it's your kind of thing of course," Kaleb stared at Ron and waited for the title of the book to sink in.

"What? Dark Arts Through the Ages: Curses, Blood Rituals and Summoning? Why are you reading that bunch of trash? You can't honestly be into that crap!"

"Ron! Don't be rude!"

"Well look at what he's reading Hermione! He's probably training to be a Death Eater or something! Dumbledore must have been off his rocker bringing him here. Come on, let's go somewhere else," Ron mumbled, sending Kaleb nasty looks while gathering all his things. Hermione always the polite one, was torn between wanting to follow Ron and stay at the table, afraid of hurting Kaleb's feelings Harry was assuming. In the end, as Harry knew she would, Hermione followed Ron to another table across the library.

"Guy's I'm going to go up to my room, I'm not feeling to great all of a sudden," Harry stood up to leave when Kaleb spoke.

"They're your friends are they?" Harry looked at him with uncertainty.

"Yes, why?" Kaleb shook his head and smirked in what seemed to be dry amusement and looked Harry straight in the eyes.

"It just funny, you know. That you put up with that," Harry blinked, stunned and walked away feeling very offended. Who did this guy think he was saying shit like that to Harry? He didn't even _know_ him _or_ his friends. Granted, Harry had been asking himself the same question lately, but that wasn't the point. Glancing down at his watch he realized it was ten minutes before seven. He made his way back to his bedroom while still going over everything he had learned about the new guy. He stopped walking for a brief second when he realized he didn't know anything about the teen, except he was very blunt. Usually this wouldn't bother him so much but it did now. He brushed it off as the fact that this 'Kaleb' was staying in _his_ house and made himself quite untrustworthy in Harry's eyes. Not to mention he was reading quite a dark book.

Harry stepped into his room and closed the door. He went to sit on his bed, waiting for Remus, Snape and Tonks to show up. He didn't have to wait long, first Tonks apparated in his room and not a minute after Snape walked in.

"Where's Lupin? He is coming isn't he?" Snape asked nobody in particular. Tonks just shrugged her shoulders and sat on Harry's bed as well, waiting. A few minutes passed by before Remus came storming into Harry's room and slammed the door closed behind him. The usually calm and collected man was practically fuming.

"Jeez Remus, what the hell happened to you?" Tonks asked. Remus snapped his head towards her and glared. Tonks' eyes grew large and she held her hands up in surrender while looking away.

"We're telling him everything. Now!" Remus barked. Severus raised an eyebrow at the werewolf and said nothing. Remus looked at the other man expectantly.

"First I think you should tell us why you're so pissed off Lupin. It has something to do with the old man, does it not?" Severus inquired. Remus glowered at Severus and Harry saw a muscle in his jaw twitch. Whatever had happened must have been pretty upsetting to get Remus this angry.

"That…that, old _codger_, had the audacity to tell me that I had to step down and stop _hovering_ over Harry and that he would _take care_ of everything. He said that Harry was in 'perfectly capable hands and that I had nothing to worry about' and I swear I could have _smacked_ that little twinkle out of his eyes I was so mad!" Remus growled in his throat and continued to vent out his frustration, completely ignoring the looks he was getting from everyone else in the room.

"He's already knows that I've noticed things about his little _plan_, though I don't think he knows how, so your safe Severus, however that doesn't change the fact that he's beginning to distrust me now, and probably with good reason. I mean I knew it was coming sooner or later but I had been hoping for later. You know this is almost like a repeat in history. When Lily and James went into hiding he said almost the exact same thing, and look what happened to them! I can't _believe_ he's trying to pull this shit on us, well on Harry, but on us too." Remus went on like this for the next five minutes ranting, raving and cursing the 'old man'. Harry was assuming Remus was talking about Dumbledore; however he didn't fully understand why he was so mad. Severus decided to interrupt Remus seeing as he was going on about the same thing over and over and he was becoming impatient with the werewolf.

"Lupin, calm down or we won't be having this discussion with you," Remus wheeled around to glare daggers at Severus but relaxed and conjured a chair to sit in.

"Now, Potter, you're wondering what we are going on about I'm assuming? We'll start off telling you up front. Do not trust _anything_ Albus Dumbledore says to you. Do you understand?" Harry frowned but nodded. He opened his mouth to ask why but a sharp look from his potions master told him that now was not a good time to be speaking.

"I'm saying this because Dumbledore has not been truthful in what he has told you for the past six years of your life. He only tells you what he deems is necessary for you to know and even then, he twists the truth to make it fit _his _needs. There are very few people who are aware of this. These people include myself, Remus, Tonks and a couple others that you have never met and will hopefully never need to meet. Dumbledore is in this whole thing for the power. He may not seem like it, but he is power hungry, he got a taste of it once when he defeated Grindelwald and has been searching for more ever since. As you know, he's known as one of the most powerful sorcerer's in the world today, and he _was _the most powerful, before You-Know-Who stepped up to the plate. Let me tell you something Potter, Dumbledore is a very deceiving man. He knows how to play games with your mind and make you see him as nothing more than a grandfatherly figure that does everything for the "greater good". It's a bunch of bullshit. You have to be able to see past that Potter do you understand?" Harry's head was swimming with this new development. He knew that Dumbledore was withholding information from him, but this? This was a whole new ball game. He told Severus to continue wanting to know everything.

"There is one thing about Dumbledore that you need to be aware of, but you cannot let on that you know anything about it. He was cursed, right before school started last year. It is a flesh eating disease. He is becoming very weak, very fast but that is not stopping him. In fact it seems to be making him push ahead even faster. As we all know, Dumbledore has made you his little minion. He wants _you_ to do all his dirty work, so he can sit back and pull the strings and control everything and anything around him. He knows that there are people that don't trust him and he keeps a very close eye on them. Thankfully he hasn't seemed to have made the connection with me yet. I believe that he will continue to trust that I am at his disposal for some time because he needs me to feed him information on the Dark Lord. I will continue to do so, however I, (Remus cleared his throat noticeably at this), so sorry Lupin…_We_ are working on a plan to detach you bit by bit from Dumbledore. There is still much that we don't know, but we're working on it. Unfortunately, as Lupin said, he's already noticing the people that are opposing him," Severus finished his speech and conjured himself a chair and waited for Harry to digest the news.

Harry now had a head ache. Basically Dumbledore has been manipulating him for the past six years and wants Harry to kill Voldemort for him so he doesn't have to get his hands dirty and then he can sit back on his gold throne and control everyone else underneath him. Hmm….nope that didn't sit too well with Harry.

"Well….fuck," Harry said deadpanned. Tonks laughed and Remus looked caught between scolding Harry or laughing himself. Severus on the other hand was not too impressed.

"Is that all you have to say? This man has been controlling every aspect of your life and is _using _you and that is all you have to say. Pitiful, absolutely pitiful, Potter," Severus scoffed.

"Look, I just found out that my whole life has been basically under the thumb of some man who should be _way_ too old to be thinking of these kinds of schemes and that was a lot of information so just give me a second would you? I'm not a friggin' sponge," Harry snapped. He appeared to be doing that a lot lately he noticed.

"Harry we know it's a lot to take in right now. If you want we can continue this some other time so you can, digest all of this," Remus said.

"No, no it's ok, I'm just thinking it over. So what am I supposed to do exactly? I can't exactly go up to him and say 'Hey! I'm sick and tired of you controlling my every action so I'd like you to stop now, thanks!' I'm pretty sure that wouldn't do anything but make things worse," Harry ran his hand through his already messy black hair.

Tonks shook her head. "No you can't, but you can distance yourself from him. Just start by leaving whenever he comes into the room or saying you have some work to catch up on. I understand that you lost your summer homework when you, uh, 'attacked' your uncle. So that's a valid excuse, say that you need to study so you're caught up in all your classes. Also, try not to get into lengthy conversations, we'll do the rest for now," the Auror suggested. Harry nodded and thought that over as well, trying to figure out anything else he could do if he came across his headmaster. A thought popped into his head at that moment, not relating to anything they were talking about at the moment but it seemed relevant none the less.

"Hey, you know that new kid you were talking about before? I met him, Kaleb. What's up with him? He seemed kind of, well, rude. And he was reading this really dark book; I don't remember the title, but something about the dark arts and summoning or something like that," he asked them.

"Kaleb was attacked at his home a couple weeks ago by Death Eaters. They killed his mother, but somehow he managed to escape. It was one of the attacks that Severus had known about and notified the rest of the Order, we got there about an hour after they attacked and found him a few blocks from his house in a park. Since he escaped alive, the Death Eater's are now hunting him so we had no choice but to bring him here," Remus explained. Harry was taken aback, if he had known that he would have been a little friendlier. It explained the boy's dismissive attitude.

"You're leaving out some valuable information Lupin…" Severus' voice trailed over to Harry and he looked up. Remus was watching Severus, and Severus was watching Harry. Tonks again was reminded of a three way ping pong match. Finally Remus sighed and continued.

"The most important reason we brought Kaleb here was because he needed protection, the best there is,"

"Yeah, I got that." Harry was becoming confused again

"And not just because he escaped the Death Eater's alive…but because, well, Kaleb is half demon…"

* * *

A/N: Oooo, I'm evil. I want to thank a particular reviewer, ladysavay, for giving me a bit of a wakeup call. Lol. I hope this chapter isn't as drawn out as the last one.=D Review please! Oh yea, I changed the Genre from Supernatural to Fantasy…I thought it would fit better with what's to come. (Grins)


	5. Chapter 4

Story Name: When the Truth Becomes a Lie

Rating: M

Warnings: Language, Slash, Detailed Violence/Abuse, Manipulation, AU, Weasley/Hermione bashing, Dumbledore bashing, Grey!Harry

Genre(s): Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Mystery, Fantasy

Summary: After Harry was severely injured during the summer at his relatives, he was taken to Head Quarters to heal. He meets a new boy that is also staying there, orphaned by a Death Eater attack and is intrigued by this strange person. Harry is also starting to question Dumbledore's motives in the war and begins searching for his own answers with the help of some people that share his views. Harry's life gets much more interesting with the new information he has acquired and he learns that not everything is as it seems.

*Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form. Any characters you recognize from the books/movies belong to J.K Rowling. The plot and added characters are my own. **Also, some of the ideas that are in this story from here on out belong to ****Miranda Flairgold, I will be posting in each chapter that contains content that belongs to her.** **My two most significant inspirations happen to be Miranda Flairgold and Toki Mirage. Go read their stories!!!Thank you!!**

**~*~*~*~**

_Previously: "The most important reason we brought Kaleb here was because he needed protection, the best there is,"_

"_Yeah, I got that." Harry was becoming confused again_

"_And not just because he escaped the Death Eater's alive…but because, well, Kaleb is half demon…"_

**Chapter Four**

"…Come again?" Harry was dumbfounded.

"Kaleb is half demon. His mother was a witch and his father, a demon," Remus explained. Harry stared blankly at the man. Demon? There was actually such a thing? Whoa...

"So…what? Voldemort is looking for _demons_ to join him now?" He asked. Remus shrugged his shoulders and looked to Severus to continue.

"I doubt the Death Eaters know he is half demon. However, You-Know-Who may know that the boy is not completely human. He escaped alive and that makes him, interesting to You-Know-Who. If the Dark Lord does happen to know the boy is half demon that gives him more motivation to find him and capture him. If he doesn't, that gives us an advantage,"

Harry thought for a moment. If Voldemort got his hands on a demon, even a half demon, that could be dangerous to everyone. Harry didn't know much about demons, he didn't even know they existed until now. All he knew about them was from the muggles viewpoint. They were the devils little minions and they lived in hell. Obviously that story had been wrong. Thinking back to the other teen, Harry couldn't remember anything that was really odd about him, well except for his eyes which he had seen were very intense, and not at all amber. They were more of a golden caramel color and had a dark ring around the iris, giving him a slight cat appearance. His eyes and the way he seemed to almost glow in dark rooms were the only things that seemed to be peculiar about the boy. Harry honestly would expect the aura thing to be on an angel though, not a demon. Everything else about him was human. Or at least he looked human. Kaleb didn't have a tail or horns or anything that would classify him as a creature of any kind.

"We were actually, kind of hoping that you'd take him under your wing, so to speak," Remus said. Harry looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Well I don't know about that, he seems to be quite set on staying secluded. I already introduced myself and then he went insulted Ron and Hermione. But I guess…well I don't know what it feels like to lose my parents after I've known them for seventeen years of my life so I guess that explains his attitude."

"He insulted Ron and Hermione you said? Hmm. That's interesting…" Remus commented. His brow furrowed and he rubbed his chin obviously thinking intently on something. Tonks and Severus were watching him, waiting for him to say something. Harry sighed and lay back on his bed, exhausted from the day's events.

"Remus? What are you thinking?" Harry heard Tonks ask. Nobody said anything for a minute and Harry suspected that Remus was still trying to figure something important out.

"Well, demons are said to be highly sensitive. They can sense things at a much higher level, just like werewolves can but even more so. Kaleb didn't take a great liking to Dumbledore when he first met him. You remember? He was rather distant and abrupt with him. And now Harry's saying that he was doing the same thing, with Ron and Hermione," Harry sat upright again, interested in where Remus was going with this.

"If Kaleb sensed that Dumbledore had ulterior motives, and that he was playing games he was making it clear that he didn't want to have to do with any of it. At least that is what I'm thinking. If he was acting the same way with Ron and Hermione then there must be some reason," Remus mused.

"Unless he's just anti social and thinks he's better than everyone else because he's half creature," Snape said. Remus shook his head.

"No I don't think that's it. He doesn't seem to be that type of person really. No, I think that with the crisis that he had just gone through he was more sensitive than usual to the people around him and he sensed that Dumbledore was hiding things. He must have seen or heard something that Hermione or Ron did or said and didn't like it." To Harry it made sense, except for one problem.

"If that's the case then why did he act the same way to me? I'm not hiding anything and now that I know what is going on with Dumbledore I'm sure as hell not going to let him control me," he said. Remus looked at Harry knowingly.

"Yes, but that was before our discussion wasn't it? You were still under Dumbledore's influence when you had met him. I bet you anything that if you go try to talk to him now, he'll be a bit more open to you," Remus said. Harry's eyebrows rose at that. It was possible he guessed. He didn't know much about demons, so he couldn't exactly predict the way the teen would act towards him, so he just decided to take Remus' word for it.

"Ok, I'll try again tomorrow. I'm tired, and my head hurts so if you all don't mind? I'd like to get some sleep," Harry stood up and stretched, feeling his back crack satisfyingly. Tonks hopped off his bed as well and gave him a cheery smile wishing him a good sleep. Remus smiled at Harry before leaving; pausing to tell Harry that if he had any questions or was worried about something he could talk to any of them. Harry raised his eyebrow at that and watched Snape leave with and then pointedly looked back at Remus. The man seemed to get his drift and chuckled then left. Harry let out a huge breath that he had been holding in throughout the whole conversation. He got ready to go to sleep and lay in his bed for what seemed like hours, mulling over everything he had been told before he eventually fell into a somewhat restless sleep.

~*~*~*~

Kaleb was woken unceremoniously early in the morning to some woman screaming a floor down. Not being able to understand what she was saying and not really caring he buried his head under his pillow and pulled the blankets up to cover it. It was way too early in the morning for him to be awake and he didn't really fancy sitting at a table with a bunch of people he didn't know staring at him or asking annoying questions. Especially when they were people that he didn't trust. Floating between the worlds of the living and the unconscious he was minutes away from being blissfully unaware of anything or anyone around him. Unfortunately, for the person knocking on his door, he was pulled back into consciousness. He growled and flung off the covers and stomped his way to his bedroom door. Throwing it open he nearly yelled at the poor teenage redheaded girl on the other side of it. She looked up at him with wide, fearful eyes.

"I…I'm s-sorry! I was just wondering if, if you were hungry? M-mum is uh, she just wants to know if you'll be having breakfast with us…" the girl stuttered. Kaleb glared at her for a moment before sighing and telling her that he would be down in a minute. He shut the door in her face and rested his head on it, closing his eyes and wishing he was anywhere but here. He walked to his dresser and randomly grabbed some jeans and a shirt. Just as he was about to pull the T-shirt over his head he caught his reflection in the mirror. He knew he was attractive, it was hard not to notice when the girls from the bar he used to work at threw themselves at him, or a prostitute on the street would try to get his attention, and many times Kaleb had even used his looks to get what he wanted if he wanted it bad enough. But now, as he looked in the mirror he stared at his torso in disgust. An ugly, long, jagged scar ran from his chest off to the side and ended just above his right hip. It was a little more than two weeks old now and still fairly pink. It was a reminder, a physical memory of the night he had lost the most important thing to him, his only family…his mother. Mentally shaking himself out of the memory he pulled the shirt on and walked down to the kitchen, leaving all his depressing thoughts and memories in his room, or at least trying to.

"Fred! George! How many times do I have to tell you to _wait! _You were not raised in a barn you two so don't behave like you were! I swear you…oh! Well hello dear, would you like some breakfast?" Kaleb raised his eyebrows at the plump woman in front of him slightly and nodded his head. He sat down in the chair that was farthest away from everyone else, knowing that it was making him look like a loner but he didn't really care. In a few weeks he'd be away from all of them anyways. The woman with the red hair put some bacon, eggs and toast on his plate. He mumbled a thanks and reached for the jam and proceeded to pick at his breakfast. Not being much of a morning person, he didn't usually eat breakfast.

"Mum! How come he gets to eat and we don't? It's not nice to pick favorites you know, and we're your own sons!" One of the twin red heads exclaimed. Kaleb noticed then just how many red heads were in this house, where they all related? _'Must be,'_ he mused.

"Fred, er, George, uh…oh what does it matter! Whichever one you are, if you must know Kaleb has had a rough couple of weeks so don't pester him, _or_ me! I have to finish cooking this. Eat if you must! I don't know where you learned to be so impatient, I swear that isn't how I raised you," the woman grumbled to herself as she hurried back to the stove. Kaleb smiled to himself at how flustered the twins' mother became at the slightest thing. If he really wanted to he could probably make everyone's life here hell but he didn't want to draw any more attention to himself than he already had. He chuckled to himself at the unintentional pun in his thoughts.

The twins were glancing at the younger teen at the end of the table and then at each other, planning a possible prank to play on the boy. They didn't know much about him but their little brother, Ron, had burst into their room last night complaining about the kid and saying something about him being a wannabe Death Eater and reading some evil book. That was a good enough reason for them to cause havoc…well anything was a good reason to cause havoc with the twins. Deciding that now wouldn't be the best time to start making a master plan, they made light conversation with Tonks who was sitting right across from them.

Not too long after Kaleb had entered the kitchen more people began to show, groggy and still rubbing the last of the sleep from their eyes. The one that seemed the drowsiest of them all was a boy with brilliant green eyes, dulled by sleep and black hair that looked like he hadn't even run a comb through it. What was his name again? Harry? Kaleb watched him as the teen sat across from him, apparently not awake enough to notice the stares he was getting, and reaching for a plate of toast. Finally realizing it was unnaturally quiet he looked around and saw everyone giving him weird looks.

"What? Is there something fascinating about me eating toast?" Harry snapped. Everyone quickly averted their gaze and went back to their breakfast. Harry shook his head and continued to butter his toast and looked across from him. Kaleb was still watching him with something that looked like amusement swimming in his gold eyes. Harry frowned slightly but didn't ask why the boy was looking at him.

"Ugh, mum! Why d'you have to wake everyone up so early in the morning?" Ron Weasley entered the room yawning and scratching the back of his head making his hair stick up like a couple of ruffled feathers on a bird. He quickly scanned the table to see where his best mate was and did a double take seeing Harry sitting across from Kaleb. He scowled and walked up behind him.

"Harry, why don't you sit over here with us?" He said, giving Kaleb the evil eye. Harry just about to take a bite from his toast paused and Kaleb saw an irritated expression wash over the boys face. Harry turned around and looked at Ron.

"I'm quite comfortable where I am, thanks. Why don't you sit right here?" Harry asked pointing to the seat beside him silently challenging Ron to say something rude about Kaleb in front of everyone else. As he expected, Ron became uncomfortable and seemed to be wondering how to say that he didn't want to sit near Kaleb without getting smacked across the head with a wooden spoon by his mother for being impolite.

"Uh, well, I promised that, um, I'd talk to Fred and George about something so…maybe later yeah?" Ron quickly left feeling slightly irritated and disappointed. Why did Harry want to sit with the guy anyways? He was obviously up to no good.

Harry turned back around in his seat and continued to eat his small breakfast in silence. He was still thinking about his conversation with Remus, Snape and Tonks last night. He hadn't slept very well because he was either having nightmares or his mind wouldn't quite running a million miles an hour. Sighing he dropped his head onto his arms resting on the table. His mind was still reeling with everything he had learned last night and he just wanted it to _stop_ for one moment.

Kaleb watched with interest as the boy in front of him seemed to be battling with some sort of inner turmoil. He watched as the teen dropped his head onto the table and stayed like that for a moment before sitting up again and running a hand through his messy hair, making it stick up at odd angles. He was looking around as if trying to find something to distract him from his thoughts when he locked eyes with Kaleb and was almost startled, surprised to find the boy watching him. Again.

"Um…yes?" Harry said slightly uneasy. Kaleb was watching him with an odd expression, and Harry couldn't identify what it was.

Kaleb just shrugged his shoulders and continued eating, whilst still staring at Harry. Now the teen was getting uncomfortable. Harry never did like being looked at and this boy was openly _staring_ at him. It made him feel…naked. Harry suppressed a shudder and tried to ignore him. It was a little difficult when he knew that Kaleb was staring at him and didn't seem to want to say anything. He remembered what Remus had said last night about Kaleb and his stomach gave a slight jolt. Kaleb was half demon. _'Demons don't eat people…do they?'_ he wondered. He knew he was probably going a little over board but he was just sitting there staring at Harry, not saying anything, and Harry's brain was slightly frazzled by the lack of sleep. Finally he couldn't stand it any longer.

"Not to be rude or anything, but your staring is making me a bit uncomfortable so if you have something to say, can you just say it? Please," he added as an afterthought. Kaleb grinned then and ate a piece of bacon. Harry was not encouraged by this.

"Sorry, didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," Kaleb said. "You just seem a little different from yesterday is all. Something bothering you?"

Harry blinked. _'Okay…wasn't expecting that.'_ He thought.

"Just something I learned yesterday. Why?" Kaleb shrugged again.

"No reason, just curiosity,"

"Well, you know what they say, curiosity killed the cat," Harry said. Kaleb smiled and nodded.

"Yes, yes it did. But I'm not a cat am I?" With that he got up and put his plate in the sink then left the kitchen leaving Harry feeling speechless, yet again.

Harry was confused. Harry didn't like being confused, at all. He quickly finished his breakfast and followed Kaleb out of the kitchen, hunting the half demon teen down so that he could get some answers. He searched the den, the library, the drawing room and many other odd little rooms that looked like they hadn't been visited in over a century. Harry couldn't find Kaleb; it was almost like he disappeared. Finally deciding to give up after an hour of looking for the boy he headed to the library having nothing else to do. He looked for some transfiguration, charms and potions books but he couldn't find anything that didn't relate to the dark arts somehow. Sighing he grabbed the best thing he could find and settled down at a table nearby. Harry had been reading and taking notes for about fifteen minutes when the shadows in the room started to shift, it was so subtle he didn't even notice it, but he did notice when a large orb of light began to hover over his head and the shadows around him grew darker. He looked up and tensed. There was obviously something in the room with him that was doing this…it could be Fred and George playing games but this wasn't really their style. They liked to use more bold approaches and flashy colors. No, this was something else. Harry pulled out his wand and looked around him, but there was nobody near him. He looked up to study the orb of light and was about to touch it when someone rested their hands on his shoulders. Harry was so startled he actually toppled out of his chair.

"Whoa! Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you, are you alright?" Harry looked around wildly and saw Kaleb standing in front of him with a worried expression. Harry was on the floor sitting against a bookcase gasping and he closed his eyes trying to catch his breath. The teen had scared the living day lights out of him!

"Hasn't anyone told you that it's not nice to sneak up behind people like that? You scared me half to death you know," Harry said. He stood up and brushed his pants off. He looked around and saw that the shadows had returned to their original places and the orb of light was gone. He frowned and looked at Kaleb.

"Did you…?" He started.

"Yeah, I did that. Sorry, I guessed I should have announced myself first then tried to give you a better reading light huh?" Kaleb smiled sheepishly. Harry's eyebrows shot up. How could he have done that? He wasn't holding a wand. It dawned on Harry then, the very thing he kept forgetting, Kaleb was half demon.

"So, how'd you do that? Is it because…um, how do I put this?" Harry searched for the way to tell Kaleb he already knew that he was half demon but the golden eyed boy was already a step ahead of him.

"Yeah, it's 'cause I'm half demon. I was um, kinda eavesdropping last night on your conversation. Hope you're not too mad," Harry was surprised, but he tried not to let it show. He just nodded his head and stood there. The silence was awkward and it was the first time Harry had seen Kaleb without his cool and collected demeanor. Kaleb coughed and then broke the silence.

"Soo…what're you reading? Transfiguration, trying to catch up or something?" Harry nodded and stepped around Kaleb to sit back in his chair and motioned for the other teen to do the same.

"Yeah, all my homework was destroyed this summer because of, well, me I guess,"

"'Cause you went overboard on the power scale right? Not that I blame you really, I mean, if someone had done something like that to me I probably would have killed him with my bare hands, but, that's just me," Kaleb flashed a grin at Harry. Harry wasn't sure if Kaleb was actually joking or not and he didn't want to ask. What he did want to ask about was the demon thing but he didn't want to be rude, so instead he concentrated on his transfiguration.

Kaleb watched Harry work and knew the boy was itching to ask him about his…anomaly. He smirked to himself, humans were so predictable. He wasn't surprised that Harry had never heard of demons actually existing, they kept to themselves and didn't show up in the human world too often. The only reason that muggles actually have their 'demon's in hell' theory is because the species of demons know as the Hell Demons went on a huge rampage millions of years ago and the survivor humans recorded it in some archaic language that had been long since lost, but not before the story was partially translated time after time and eventually the whole legend had been twisted and turned so that it resembled absolutely nothing of the original tale…hell, they even got the description of the demons wrong. The only thing that the humans had been able to sustain from the story was the mention of demons. Some other worldly creature that had walked the earth and had a thirst for blood, destruction and chaos. Nowadays however, demons have become more civilized and the tale that demons lived in hell, a fiery dangerous underground nightmare was a myth. Most demons could speak English and where very well aware of the humans myths and legends of their species. They were educated, although not in the same way that wizards and witches were. Demons were not afraid to study the Dark Arts, not because they were evil, but because the other branch of magic held valuable information that prudish, stuck up light wizards were either too afraid to learn or knew nothing about.

"How's the homework coming?" Kaleb asked after a while. He got a dark look for his efforts.

"Not too great actually. Can't seem to concentrate and this book doesn't exactly have what I need anyways," Harry sighed and put the book down. He rubbed his face and yawned. It wasn't because he was tired that he couldn't concentrate, it was the fact that he had too many questions he wanted to ask Kaleb.

"Look, I know that you're curious. About me, I mean. So just ask, I'll answer whatever I can," Kaleb said. Harry contemplated this for about half a second.

"How can you be _half_ demon?" Was the first thing that came out of Harry's mouth. Kaleb laughed. Out of all the questions this boy could ask, he asked how Kaleb could only be half demon.

"Sorry, I don't mean to laugh at you. It's just funny that the first thing you ask is _that_. I thought Remus had explained that to you? My mother was a witch and my father was a demon. An Elemental Demon to be exact,"

"Elemental Demon? Is that a type of demon or something?" Harry asked.

"Mmhmm. In a way I guess. There's four species of demons. Hell Demons, Blood Demons, Elemental Demons and Incubi or succubae. Incubi are a bit different than the others, they are not the same kind of demon as the others but it is still a demon. I'm not going to get into explaining all the differences with all of them right now 'cause I think you've had enough shocking information to last you a while," Kaleb replied.

"Okay…so how're you half demon again?"

_'kid's persistent' _Kaleb thought.

"Well you see, when a man and a woman love each other very much…" he started slowly. Harry's eyes grew round and he quickly stopped Kaleb.

"No, no, no! I know _that!_ I meant…well I didn't know that a.."

"Human?"

"Yes a human, thanks, could well…have a child with a demon. It's just sounds a bit odd to me." Harry mumbled turning slightly red.

"Well it's basically unheard of. I mean sure, you get your fiction novels and your movies about these powerful half human half demon creature things but it's all a bunch of bull. In the real world, it's unheard of. I'm, probably one in a billion or something. And the movies and books have it all backwards anyways, half demons are _way_ less powerful than true demons. We don't get all the nifty powers and such," Kaleb explained. Harry looked at him with a strange expression.

"You've seen movies?" Kaleb stared at Harry and slowly raised an eyebrow.

"You have odd questions…but yes, I've seen movies. I did live in muggle London," Harry rolled his eyes.

"Fine then. What does a true demon look like?"

"Ah, now that's a real question. A demon's True Form is different for every demon. The Hell Demons and the Incubi don't have wings; the other species do have wings. It depends on the species and in the case of an Elemental Demon, what element it controls. An Elemental Demon's True Form will reflect the element it controls. Example, a demon that controls fire will have wings that appear to be made of fire and usually they have orange eyes that flicker just like a flame. The only demon that has a tail is a Blood Demon. Don't ask why, I have no clue. No demon has horns however, that was made up by muggles and they don't have goat legs or hop around large bon fires chanting in some grunty language trying to summon Satan from the depths of hell, Satan doesn't even exist. Demons do have a language of their own but it's not at all like you would imagine it to be," Kaleb glanced at Harry while saying this almost as if trying to send a silent message to him.

"Like I said every Demon had a different appearance and powers, but I'm not going to get into each and every one. There are books for that somewhere. If you're really interested you'll find out the information you need on your own. Demons may not be well known in the human world, but that doesn't mean that they aren't known at all. Anything else?" Harry thought for a moment.

"Yes, one more thing. You said that your father was an Elemental Demon, and you made that strange orb appear above me. You also said that you don't have the same power as a true demon, but you have some obviously. So, what is your element?" Harry and Kaleb stared eye to eye for a moment before Kaleb broke their gaze.

"My element is light as well as shadow. It's one of the more rare elements that most demons don't control. It is technically two elements because they are opposites, but they make one element. A demon cannot control only one aspect of something that is made whole by two. In other words, to control light is to control shadow. Do you understand?" Harry didn't, it was slightly confusing. How can light and shadow be one thing when they were exact opposites?

"Alright, think of it this way. Think of a ball and that ball is made up of two substances, a light substance, and a dark substance. They're swirling together to make up the ball but you can distinctly see both substances. They do no blend, they do not merge together, they are separate from one another but they are attached to one another. If you are to control one of the substances, to change its shape you cannot do it without changing the shape of the other substance. Now do you understand?" Harry thought about it for a moment.

"So when you change one element it affects the other?" Kaleb smiled.

"Exactly,"

"So why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Harry asked slightly perturbed.

"I wanted you to understand why. If I had just told you that controlling one affects the other, would you actually understand how it works?"

"Well…no, I guess not," Harry reluctantly admitted.

"Light cannot exist without shadow and shadow cannot exist without light, it's one of those circles, where you never know how it starts, it just is. My element is light and shadow, but because I am not a true demon, I can only influence the element, not fully control it. A demon that would be able to completely control my element would be able to create shadow or light out of nowhere. They use their own connection with the element and their magic to pull the energy they need and create it in front of them. I, however, must use light or shadow that is already created, whether naturally or artificially. That orb that was above you earlier, I stole the light from that candle over there, you see? The only one that isn't lit anymore. The shadows naturally became dark and changed shape themselves because the brightest point in the room changed. I don't have the same powers as a true elemental demon, I only have a little. Enough to be more powerful than your average wizard, but not as powerful as a true demon. So there you have it," Kaleb said.

"I see, so because of your element, is that why you kind of…glow?" Harry asked.

"Yeah that would be why," Kaleb responded. Harry made a noise of interest and looked at his watch. He was surprised to find that he and Kaleb had been talking for almost two hours. He had really enjoyed the conversation and he felt more secure now that he knew a little more about the other teen and that he was open to questions about himself. Well, certain things about himself.

"So what about you Harry? Anything that's interesting about you that I probably don't know already?" Kaleb grinned and Harry smiled back.

"Probably not, you seem to know quite a bit about me, and you're a bit of a snoop apparently, no offense. But it's not like it's not new to me really, almost everyone in the wizarding world knows who I am," Harry said. Kaleb saw the look of annoyance briefly fly across his face and tilted his head to the side.

"Does that bother you?" he asked. Harry looked up, surprised.

"Well, yeah, sometimes. Everyone seems to think that I'm this big celebrity, when I'm not, and that I'm going to save them all. Which I probably will, or at least die trying, but it just gets to be a bit much sometimes, you know?"

"Mmm, I'm afraid I don't. I've always kept to myself really. Do explain though," Kaleb was quite interested to hear this actually. Harry explained that he couldn't go into any largely populated wizarding area because he'd get swarmed by so many people asking for his autograph or asking to have a picture taken with him and it came to the point in the past year that he actually had to disguise himself so that he wouldn't get noticed by any raving fans. Especially the girls, they were completely unbelievable sometimes. Harry remembered distinctly a time when some girl that he'd never met before in his life came up to him and actually sat in his lap and proceeded to try and make out with him. And this was in the middle of Diagon Alley when he was with Ron and Hermione after they had gotten all their school supplies last year. When Harry told Kaleb this, the half demon threw his head back and laughed.

"Why is that so funny exactly?"Harry asked. Kaleb looked at Harry and wiped a few tears of mirth from his eyes.

"Oh no reason except the mental image was hilarious and the fact that you don't seem to understand just how attractive you really are," And with that Kaleb stood up and left Harry alone in the dark library to gape at an empty space once again.

* * *

A/N: There we are, fourth chapter is finished. Yay! So how'd you like it? Was it good, bad, boring, anything at all? Review and tell me! Pretty please, with chocolate sauce and strawberries on top? (puppy eyes)

Thank you for reading! =3


	6. Chapter 5

Story Name: When the Truth Becomes a Lie

Rating: M

Warnings: Language, Slash, Detailed Violence/Abuse, Manipulation, AU, Weasley/Hermione bashing, Dumbledore bashing, Grey!Harry

Genre(s): Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Mystery, Fantasy

Summary: After Harry was severely injured during the summer at his relatives, he was taken to Head Quarters to heal. He meets a new boy that is also staying there, orphaned by a Death Eater attack and is intrigued by this strange person. Harry is also starting to question Dumbledore's motives in the war and begins searching for his own answers with the help of some people that share his views. Harry's life gets much more interesting with the new information he has acquired and he learns that not everything is as it seems.

*Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form. Any characters you recognize from the books/movies belong to J.K Rowling. The plot and added characters are my own.

Chapter Five

The next few days were relatively uneventful. Harry started to hang out with Kaleb more often and he was beginning to become very irritated with his other two friends. Ron had a hate on for Kaleb all because he was reading a 'dark arts' book. Harry himself was a little unsure about that but he was willing to listen to what the teen had to say before shunning him just because of his chosen reading material. Hermione tried to be polite to Kaleb but she wasn't making an effort to be friends with him and on several occasions had tried to pull Harry away from the half demon to speak to him in private. These private meetings of sorts, turned out to be Ron and Hermione harping on Harry because they weren't comfortable with him hanging out with Kaleb. Before this summer, Harry would probably have ditched Kaleb by now, just because his other friends wanted him to but now, he had changed. Ever since his discussion with Remus, Severus and Tonks, Harry had tried to see the truth in everything anyone said to him or did to 'protect' him. Harry's eyes had been opened to see the lies and corruption that had been brewing for years. Harry tried to convince Ron and Hermione that Kaleb wasn't a bad person, he was actually really interesting and he wasn't going to stop being friends with him just because they wanted him to, because that isn't what friends do. When Harry had said this, Hermione started tearing up and Ron became outraged. The redhead stomped away immediately saying nothing more to Harry but Hermione had stayed and tried to tell Harry that she was only looking out for his best interests. When the bushy haired teen said that, Harry nearly lost it.

"For my best interests? Are you for fucking real Hermione? Real friends don't try to control you Hermione, and if you _were_ looking out for my best interests, you would _not_ be standing here telling me that I can't be friends with Kaleb. He isn't dangerous to me and he probably won't ever be dangerous to me and he is no threat to you so I don't know what you have against him. If you were looking out for my best interests Hermione, you'd notice that a fair few things have changed with me and you wouldn't have _scolded_ me for _defending my life_ when my uncle was beating the living _shit _out of me! So you know what? You and Ron can take your guilt trips and your _judgment_ and shove it," Harry said fiercely. Hermione's jaw dropped in shock, not expecting this kind of response and tried to call him back as he stormed away. Harry ignored her pleas and kept walking, he didn't know where he was going there weren't many places to go in this house; he just needed to get away from them. He ended up in the den and curled up on the couch beside the fire. It was past eight thirty at night and there weren't very many people around. There was just him, Ron, Hermione, Kaleb and Harry thought he heard Remus and Tonks in the kitchen earlier.

Harry stared into the fireplace, watching the flames flicker and lick at the iron gate as his angry thoughts passed through his mind. He felt the warmth on his face from the fire and he wanted at that moment, nothing more than to take that fire and the heat and burn down this house. It held so many memories in it, cruel, dark, painful memories. Not many of his own, but even the happy one's like the Christmas he had come here with the Weasley's and he listened to Sirius decorating the house singing Christmas carols hurt to think about. He missed his godfather, the canine animagus had been the closest thing he had ever had to a father and Harry only had a short time with him. Harry could feel the imprint that the dark magic and the anger had left in this house, it consumed the structure. Harry shivered and felt goosebumps rise on his skin, even though he was sitting right by the fire. He sighed, feeling like he wanted to cry or scream because he was feeling too many emotions at once, on days like these he just wanted to bury his head in the sand and not come out for weeks and pretend that everything would turn out ok by its self. But he knew that would never happen, and he would never betray his promise that he had made to do everything that was in his power to stop Voldemort.

Harry was pulled from his thoughts when he felt a weight on the couch by his feet. He looked over his shoulder and saw it was Kaleb. He smiled slightly but Kaleb did not smile back.

"If they bother you that much, just stop hanging around them. Or me, whichever is easier," He said. Harry scoffed at that.

"I'm not going to stop hanging around you just because they want me to. And I don't want to hang around them anymore, but it's complicated…" he trailed off.

"How is it complicated? They're using you, you know. They're just trying to get you back on 'their side'. Dumbledore has them wrapped around his little finger," Kaleb said. Harry sighed and gave Kaleb a disapproving look.

"Look, you're smart and everything, but I don't know if you know how our friendship works. They've been my best friends for seven years now, and they were the first friends I ever had, so I can't just ditch them because they're being blind fools. I can convince them, it'll just take a bit longer than I thought," Harry said. He looked back at the fire and said no more. Kaleb watched him with slight pity.

"Sometimes…when people change, they grow in different directions. And sometimes, they're paths are completely opposite. I know that they were your first friends, and they've been good friends, but think Harry, they've changed, and so have you. For different purposes," Harry turned slowly and glared at Kaleb.

"Do _not_ try and break me and my friends apart Kaleb, because you will not like what I have to say if you do," Harry's voice was low and there was anger in his eyes. It was the first time Kaleb had seen Harry anything more than just a teen wizard. '_This must be what his uncle saw before Harry had killed him.' _He thought. He was not scared, he knew Harry wouldn't do anything, as long as he kept to his own business, but he was wary. This human was a lot more powerful than most, he had great potential for many things. He nodded at Harry to tell him he'd back off. Harry turned back around and continued to stare into the fire. Kaleb stayed with him and they sat in a companionable silence, regardless of Harry's warning.

Only a few minutes passed before Hermione and Ron entered the room. They hesitated at the sight of Kaleb but proceeded to the couch opposite of the other two teens. They were silent and on edge, Kaleb could tell. Harry didn't acknowledge them, he didn't even move from his spot and he did not shift his gaze from the fire. Nobody spoke, but Kaleb pulled a book from his bag that he always seemed to carry around with him and started to read the novel. Hermione seemed to become too uncomfortable with the silence and spoke.

"Harry, about earlier, I'm, well, Ron and I are sorry for what we said. We really were only looking out for you, I mean you seem to be under so much stress lately and I overheard Professor Snape say yesterday that you weren't quite fully healed yet and you should be careful. I just want you to be safe," She said. Harry finally looked at them, if only for a moment before sitting up properly and leaning over to see what Kaleb was reading. Hermione's eyebrows furrowed, not appreciating the blatant rejection to her apology and Ron scoffed beside her. She elbowed him in the ribs and glared at him.

"Harry, please, really we are truly sorry, please, can you forgive us?" Hermione begged. Harry just looked at her and raised an eyebrow. Kaleb closed his eyes and smiled slightly, finding it funny that this girl seemed to be so sorry and yet not willing to consider anything Harry had said.

"Can't you tell that he's annoyed with you?" Kaleb said. Hermione looked affronted and Ron became quite red in the face.

"Hey! Don't you start on her! We didn't ask for your opinion!" Ron yelled. Kaleb turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow and snorted.

"I wasn't aware I needed your permission to give my opinion. So sorry," Kaleb flashed a charming smile at Ron and returned to his book. Harry pushed his face in Kaleb's shoulder and snorted.

"So that's how it's going to be Harry? You're going to trade our friendship in for _him?_ Fine, whatever, but don't come running to us when he goes and stabs you in the back," Ron huffed and left abruptly, Hermione following close behind, wiping tears from her eyes. Harry watched them leave and a pang of sorrow hit his heart. These were his best friends that he loved dearly, but…maybe Kaleb was right. They've grown apart through the years, Harry saw the war through different eyes, he was the source of it, it seemed, and Ron and Hermione didn't understand that. But then again…did Kaleb? He looked at Kaleb and studied him again. Tonks had talked with Harry briefly the day before and told him to be aware of your surroundings at all times, and be aware of those that are trying to manipulate you. Even those closest to you could turn on you in a second, but what about those that are becoming close to you? They could turn in a second as well, and Harry didn't know anything about Kaleb really, except that he was half demon. He pulled himself away from Kaleb and suddenly felt very alone.

"I'm going to go to bed. I'm tired and I haven't been sleeping well in the last couple nights," he told Kaleb.

Kaleb looked up with concern, and he caught something in Harry's eyes, distrust. He was slightly hurt by this but he just nodded his head. He understood that Harry was losing his best friends and he was losing them fast, at the same time he had begun to be friends with Kaleb. To Harry it was probably confusing and a bit scary as well, although he knew the teen wasn't about to admit that.

Harry slowly walked to his room but was stopped before he ascended the stairs. He looked to the person that had grabbed him, it was Remus and he looked worried. Harry was about to say that he was fine and he was just a bit tired, not wanting to explain that he'd gotten into a bit of a tiff with his friends but Remus beat him to the punch.

"Severus has found out some…disturbing information," he said. Harry frowned at the tone in Remus' voice and followed him into the kitchen. Remus closed the door behind him and cast a silencing charm around the room.

"Where is Snape?" Harry asked.

"Professor Snape, and he's…he's at his house resting. He was at a meeting earlier," Remus didn't need to clarify; Harry knew exactly what kind of 'meeting' he had been at. Harry seated himself in a chair and waited for Remus to continue.

"According to Severus, Voldemort does know about Kaleb being half demon. I'm not sure how," Remus continued at Harry's questioning look. "Severus didn't say anything about how he knows, but he does. That means that we need to double our defenses in every regard. We have to watch our backs all the time and we'll be using the buddy system. Nobody leaves to go anywhere without someone else with them. We'll be going to Diagon Alley soon to get your school supplies. Actually you'll be going with the Weasley's and Tonks and I will be following at a distance. Kaleb will be going as well, Dumbledore has deemed it too dangerous for him to be here by himself during the school year and he doesn't have anyone to stay and educate him like he had before," Harry frowned, was Kaleb homeschooled before? He had said that he and his mother lived in muggle London so it was possible.

"Severus has also mentioned that he wants you to pick up occlumency again, however he refuses to teach you, and he won't say why, so obviously something happened between you two," Remus sent a slight frown at Harry.

"Hey! Don't blame me! He was just as much at fault as I was and I already apologized," He retorted. Remus just rolled his eyes.

"I'm not blaming you, but you two have some issues that you need to sort out. Being enemies with the people that are on your side doesn't make for great allies. That's not the point of this conversation though. Apparently, Kaleb is an accomplished occlumens, Snape couldn't even penetrate his mind barriers, and he still can't in fact. So, if you could get him to agree to teach you?" Harry was not impressed. He couldn't pick up the difficult task before and he didn't see why it would be any different now but he agreed anyways. Maybe having someone that didn't hate him, teach him occlumency might make it easier.

"The whole reason we want you to do this is because Voldemort knows that we're hiding Kaleb. If he knows that, there's a good chance he might try to get into your mind again and trick you or get information from you. Severus said that Voldemort was quite intent of getting his hands on Kaleb, which would _not _be good, for anyone, do you understand?" Harry nodded.

"Also, if I may interrupt for a moment Remus, I want to teach you a few defense spells, ones that you aren't going to learn at Hogwarts. They're Auror level spells, so they're very difficult but I'm sure you'll manage," Tonks said. "It would also be good if you could practice your wandless magic; Severus mentioned that you were having difficulties with it last year?" Harry's eyes narrowed slightly and his mouth became a thin line, but he grudgingly admitted that he was.

"Alright, that's all we really wanted to say for now. Do you have any questions or need anything?" Remus asked. Harry just shook his head.

"Okay, and Harry, if you ever just want to, you know, just talk, I'm here," the werewolf said quietly. Harry looked at him and saw slight loneliness and hopefulness in his amber eyes and he realized just how much Remus missed Sirius and that he didn't really have anyone to talk to except Tonks, and she didn't know him that well.

"Of course Remus, I'll come find you if I need anything, promise," Harry smiled and said goodnight to both of them then proceeded up to his room. He flopped down on his bed with a big sigh and laid there. Unfortunately he didn't even get a minute to relax before someone was knocking on his door. Growling under his breath he went to open his door, surprised to find Kaleb standing there, looking concerned.

"Hey, can I come in?" Kaleb asked. Harry stepped aside and closed his door again.

"What's up?" Kaleb sat on Harry's bed and he followed him to sit beside him.

"I was just wondering if I upset you earlier, I didn't mean to, I was just trying to help I guess. I'm sorry if I did upset you though," Kaleb said.

"No, no you didn't upset me really. I'm just a bit confused I guess, my friends don't understand why I've become friends with you and they aren't willing to listen, which isn't how I remember them before, but your right, I've changed and I see things differently than they do. And honestly, a year ago, if I had seen you reading that book I would have walked away with them. It's just, after everything that happened this summer, my uncle beating the shit out of me and then dying…it kind of makes a person see life completely different, it makes you see how much we really take for granted and how often we just fall right into the will of others, you know?" Harry searched Kaleb's eyes for any kind of understanding and was surprised when he saw not only understanding but empathy as well.

"Yes, actually I do know, I know very well," He said softly.

"I've been friends with them for seven years, and I've only been friends with you for a week…and it's kind of weird because I feel closer to you than I do to them right now, and I'm not sure how to feel about that because, I don't really know anything about you, and Ron's family have basically taken me in under their wing, so, I guess I'm just…confused," Harry sighed not exactly sure how he was supposed to word what he wanted to say, but it wasn't coming out right. However, it didn't seem to bother Kaleb, he knew what Harry was trying to say.

"I was born October 16, 1980 in an old rundown cottage, in the middle of nowhere. My mother was alone, she was too far from the hospital and she had no way of contacting anyone, my father disappeared after he got my mom pregnant, I've never met him and I believe that he's probably dead. I was a miracle child, I shouldn't have survived but my mother got us to a hospital after she delivered me. I grew up with only my mother; we didn't have any other family to really call on in times of crisis. She was shunned by most of her family because she had a baby with some man that nobody had ever met and they didn't get married, so I'm a bastard child. We moved constantly, she could never hold onto a job long enough to stay permanently at one place. She was sick, cervical cancer. She'd been fighting it off and on for most of her life. Even the magical treatments couldn't cure her disease. I've lived a very hard life, many times going without food or heat or electricity. My mother was a witch, yes, but she lived in muggle London because she wanted to get away from all the criticizing eyes and the name calling. She swore away her life of magic, until I started showing signs of it. She taught me what she knew, I was homeschooled, but the older I got, the more I was on my own. I found and read as many books as I could get my hands on, and even those that weren't regular school curricular books I read. I was scared as a child that I would never know enough about magic to be accepted and able to work. I, unlike my mother, wanted to be a part of the magical world, but I also loved the muggle world."

"The first spell I ever cast was a cleaning charm. I was helping my mom clean the kitchen one afternoon after baking some brownies, it was very rare that we ever did anything like that, too expensive you see, but she wanted to give me a treat. I was nine years old, and it was probably the happiest time of my life," Kaleb smiled and his gold caramel eyes shined with the happy memory. "She was so happy and excited. She even took me out to the park to have a picnic with our homemade brownies. Those moments were far and few between, what I remember most, is hunger, feeling lost and helpless and friendless," He stopped for a moment and Harry was about to say something when Kaleb cut him off.

"On the night that they attacked the house, I was working at a bar. I've been working ever since I was thirteen, to help my mom. We lived in a really bad part of town, the slums basically. I got home and it was already late in the night, my mom was usually sleeping by the time I got home. It couldn't really be called an attack I guess; it was more of an ambush. They had already killed her by the time I got home. I had my back turned, but I heard the man behind me, I thought he was my mom. He jumped me, but I was able to throw him off. He had some kind of dagger with him, and it was cursed, I know that much because he left a scar," Kaleb stood up and lifted his shirt, showing the jagged scar on his torso. Harry inhaled sharply, it looked like it had been a deep cut, and it was still slightly pink.

"Demon's don't scar and we heal extremely fast. A tiny paper cut will heal in a matter of seconds and we never scar unless the object used to hurt us has been cursed or poisoned. The man wasn't alone either, there were two others but I was able to knock out the first one before the other two came out to see what was going on. I think I killed one of them, I stabbed him with the same dagger that cut me right in the throat, so I'm pretty sure he's dead, the other I injured enough so that I could get away. I ran out of the house and just kept running. I couldn't go very far because of the gash and eventually I just collapsed in a park because of exhaustion and blood loss. The Order found me, I don't know how much later but I would have been dead by morning if they hadn't."

"I've never known what it's like to be a kid, I've never known what it's like to have a mom and a dad waiting for you when you come home from school or what it's like to have a comfortable home waiting for you every night. Sometimes I get very bitter about that and I even hold it against others that have had a real childhood and a real family, and it's not right that I do. I taught myself early in life that I had to be emotionless and to have an inch thick skin to get by, which is why when we first met I was rude and abrupt with you. I'm like that with everyone I first meet," Kaleb finally looked at Harry, completely bare to the teen in front of him. Harry was astonished with the honesty that came from Kaleb. He was not expecting the teen to open up like that.

"Wow…I'm sorry you had to go through all of that," Harry said, he didn't really know what else to say. Kaleb just shrugged.

"Honestly, I'm thankful I've been through all of it, because I know things now that I wouldn't have learned until I was in my elderly years, and that would take a few centuries," he laughed slightly. "But I've learned things like, not taking life for granted, because it doesn't always throw you what you want and it can change in a split second. I've learned that you have to work for anything worthwhile and you have to fight to stay on top. I've learned to never assume that everything will turn out okay and that the worst case scenario will always be possible, but so can the best. I've learned to read people, to decipher between who are the liars and who are the genuine ones. And I've learned to see the people that have never had to live a day in my shoes, and the ones that have walked in them their whole life," Kaleb looked Harry right in the eyes and held the gaze. Neither spoke, because they knew exactly what the other was thinking. Fate had been unfair to these two teens, and although they were complete opposites in many ways, they were the exact same in so many others. They both knew what it was like to go hungry for days on end, they both knew what it was to never have a real family, they both knew what it was like to never have a place to call home, they both had never known a proper childhood, and they both knew what it was like to lose those closest to them.

"I think I understand now," Harry said. Kaleb only nodded and sat down on Harry's bed again.

"Your friends are lying to you Harry, maybe I shouldn't tell you that, but they are," Kaleb said. Harry was silent for a moment, expecting to feel angry at the statement, but instead he felt surprisingly calm.

"I know," was all he said.

~*~*~*~

Kaleb had fell asleep in Harry's bed that night. The two boys stayed up talking most of the night, just about random things that didn't seem to have much meaning but the fact that they shared them meant everything to their friendship. They woke up late into the next day, both of them feeling light and refreshed for the first time in a very long time. Most of the day they just lazed around in the den, the room slowly becoming their domain. Kaleb read his dark arts book and Harry worked on researching some defense spells, chuckling to himself at the irony of Kaleb reading a book on dark curses and Harry reading a book on repelling dark curses. Harry had asked about the book the night before and Kaleb openly explained why he was reading it.

"The dark arts are only called that because of most people's intent behind the spell. Most magic and most spells are neutral; they do not lean to light or dark magic. The exception to that are the spells that have been specifically designed and created to either harm or help a person, such as the three unforgivables. Most spells are created for neutral purposes, but they can have dark intent if the person wielding the spell directs it to do an evil deed. Same with light spells. For example, the Deputo spell was designed to prune hedges, but it has been classified as a dark spell because a bunch of people used it to cut other people up to shreds when they were battling. Besides, the people that you really have to worry about when you're dueling are the ones that don't fight fair, and most people don't. If someone is sending an unforgivable at your head, would you play nicely? No, I didn't think so,"

Harry understood now why Kaleb would read a dark arts book. It gave insight to the kind of spells you might be up against when dueling a dark wizard and you were able to get into their mind frame, to a point of course. Harry had sensed that Kaleb wasn't a complete light wizard from the start. He had a presence about him that screamed dare devil and sometimes danger. It didn't bother Harry though; he was perfectly comfortable with it. There was something in the back of his mind that was telling him that Kaleb had not told him everything concerning his past life and even when he was explaining why he was reading the dark arts book, but he figured that the teen would tell him in time. Harry was completely baffled by his honesty the night before, not expecting what came forth at all, but appreciating it all the same, there was a bond between them now. A kind of bond that Harry had never shared with anyone before, because there had never been anyone that truly understood what he had gone through in his childhood, until Kaleb. He had more than proved himself trustworthy, so Harry was not going to push the issue. There were things he hadn't told Kaleb about himself either, but he would, when the time was right he would.

"I'm going to get a snack, you want anything?" Kaleb asked.

"Sure, I'll come with you," Harry replied. They put their books away and went to the kitchen. They met a group of adults sitting at the table, obviously talking about something important. At the table sat, Tonks, Arthur and Molly Weasley, Remus, Severus and Professor Dumbledore. Harry quickly averted his gaze when he saw his headmaster, not wanting to provoke any sort of conversation. Kaleb seemed to pick up on his uneasiness because he stepped half way in between Harry and Dumbledore's line of sight. Dumbledore seemed not to notice this action but Tonks, Remus and Severus did. They all exchanged quick glances before schooling their features to be blank.

"Well hello there Mr. Potter, Mr. O'Neil, how have you two boys been?" the old man chirped (A/N: haha I just got a vision of him as a chicken).

"We've been great sir, thank you, and yourself?" Kaleb replied briskly as he reached for the fridge. Harry seemed to be stuck where he first saw his headmaster.

"Oh just getting preparing for the school year. You will be attending Hogwarts this year, am I right Mr. O'Neil?" It was an unnecessary question, Kaleb didn't really have a choice in the matter but he replied politely all the same.

"Yes, I'll be going with Harry and the Weasley's this week I believe to get our school things. I'm looking forward to attending Hogwarts Professor. If you would excuse us, Harry and I have some studying to do, I've been helping him catch up on his homework," Kaleb pressed an apple into Harry's hands which seemed to snap him out of his stance.

"Of course my boys, go ahead, don't let an old man's meddling get in your way," Dumbledore said. Kaleb smiled, albeit stiffly. He exited the kitchen swiftly, pulling Harry behind him. They went straight to Kaleb's room and when he closed the door he turned to Harry.

"We _really _need to work on your social skills," He said. Harry just glared at him then smirked.

"Yeah, well at least I'm not a suck up, _'Oh of course I'm attending Hogwarts this year sir! Yes I'm absolutely peachy headmaster, and you? Harry and I are just studying like good little boys Professor!" _Harry mimicked. Kaleb's expression turned from amusing to mock outrage.

"I did not sound like that! My voice isn't that squeaky! Now you, well I'm not so sure," Kaleb laughed then jumped over his bed to doge a flying book. He and Harry both grabbed pillows and starting attacking each other with them, feathers flying everywhere and they were laughing so hard that they could barely even aim at one another. Harry shrieked as he slipped and slid backwards right into the bed and fell ungracefully in a heap onto it. Kaleb grabbed onto the wall for support holding his sides while tears streamed down his face.

"Ha! You sh-should have seen your fa-face! Haha! Fuckin' priceless!" They laughed for a while and slowly calmed down. Kaleb crawled over to the bed and flopped down beside Harry. They looked at each other and snorted. They didn't say anything for a minute before a thought entered Harry's mind.

"Hey, did you catch what Dumbledore said?" he asked. Kaleb turned his head to look at Harry.

"What're you talking about?"

"He said don't let an old man's meddling get in your way. I dunno maybe I'm just picking up on something that's not there," Harry started picking at the comforter on the bed, feeling silly that he even brought it up. Kaleb propped himself up on his side and looked down at Harry with a contemplating expression.

"No, no I think your right. He was probably making a private joke to himself or something. Too bad that we're already onto him hey? That pretty much confirms that we're right," Kaleb said and lay back down.

"Well not really, I mean he could have just been trying to be polite or something," Kaleb looked at Harry with a raise eyebrow and an expression that said, 'You honestly believe that?'

"Yeah you're right," Harry said after seeing Kaleb's expression.

"Seriously though, I have to start teaching you occlumency soon. I'm sure I've felt him trying to poke around in my head once or twice and if I can feel him, that means he's pretty accomplished at legilimency," Kaleb stated.

"That might have been Snape, Remus said that he'd tried a few times and couldn't get past your barriers," Harry thought back to his conversation the night before. Kaleb shook his head.

"No, Severus has a distinctly different feel than Dumbledore," He said. Harry raised his eyebrow at the teen.

"Severus? Since when are you on first name basis with Snape?" he asked. Kaleb wiggled his eyebrows at Harry.

"That's for me to know, and you to never find out," he said cheerfully, hopping off the bed. When he turned around to face Harry, the boy was looking at him as if he had grown three heads and had tentacles for arms.

_"WHAT?!"_ Harry exclaimed. Kaleb threw his head back and barked out a laugh.

"I was _joking_! Jeez, you're so easy to wind up sometimes you know?" Kaleb chuckled to himself as he walked to his door.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked.

"Just grabbing our stuff from downstairs, I'll be right back," Kaleb replied. Harry shook his head in amusement. Kaleb was a completely different person than what Harry was used to. He was very bold and he wasn't afraid to say what was on his mind and he had his moments of sexual innuendos that Harry was definitely not accustomed to, causing him to blush very red out of embarrassment. This, unfortunately for Harry, only spurred Kaleb on.

When Kaleb didn't return right away Harry became impatient and went looking for him and when he was about half way down the stairs he heard Ron's very angry voice.

"Who the bloody hell do you think you are stealing _our_ best friend? And look at this! A dark arts book, what the hell are you planting into his head eh?" Harry frowned at this and was about to reveal himself when he heard Hermione's voice as well.

"Look, Harry has been our friend for ages, and it's not right that you come here and moose your way in and then try and turn him against us. We've known him a lot longer than you have, we know what's best for him and he's been under a lot of stress lately. He shouldn't have to worry about one of his friends turning him in or something," Harry was shocked to hear Hermione be so rude to Kaleb, it wasn't how she normally was. He heard Kaleb scoff at them.

"Turn him in? What, to Voldemort? Oh please! Your scared to even hear his name uttered, you really think I should be frightened by your petty little threats? Harry has a mind of his own, he can make his own choices, and he made the choice to become friends with me. He never said that he couldn't be friends with you too, although I don't know why he would want to be with the way you lie to him every day,"

"We do _not_ lie-" Hermione started.

"When was the last time you told him _anything_ that Dumbledore has told you about the attacks or even the plans that he's established to supposedly protect all of us? Hmm? Tell me that, and when was the last time that you actually _listened_ to him? Do you know of anything that has gone on at his Uncle's place? Do you know why his uncle tried to kill him? No you don't, because you never cared to ask, you never cared why he was so small for his age, or why he never had any friends when he was a kid. You think he's under a lot of stress now? Maybe ask him one day, how much stress he's been going through for his whole _life_," Harry heard movement and though that Kaleb was maybe coming up the stairs and he was about to run up them but he heard someone grunt and then a loud _thump _as though something very heavy hitting the floor. Then he heard Hermione scream. He rushed down the stairs to see Ron flat on his back, gasping for breath, Hermione pressed up against the wall and Kaleb glaring down at Ron. In the dark hallway, what was usually just a slight glow around Kaleb was now a pulsating light that looked like it was shifting and rippling.

"Don't _ever_ try to touch me again," Kaleb growled. His voice was deep and rough. Hermione's eyes were wide and her hands were covering her mouth, she looked completely petrified. After Ron had stood up the adults from the kitchen came rushing out to see what all the commotion was about.

"What's going on here?" Arthur asked. The four teens all glanced at each other but said nothing at first.

"Nothing Dad, I just tripped and fell is all," Ron mumbled his ears red. He quickly left with Hermione at his heals, Harry and Kaleb turning to head back up to Kaleb's room.

"Boys," Molly Weasley called. They both stiffened.

"Supper will be in half an hour ok?" Harry and Kaleb relaxed and assured her they would be down in time, then rushed up the stairs.

"So care to explain what just happened down there?" Harry asked. Kaleb ran a hand through his hair, and Harry noticed with slight jealousy that it fell right back into place.

"Well your two dear friends decided that they wanted to have a little chat with me while I was grabbing our stuff. They basically cornered me and tried to tell me to back off and to leave you alone, and then I tried to explain that there was nothing to leave alone because I wasn't forcing you to be friends with me but the redhead, what's his name? Ron? Anyways he cut me off and straight accused me of stealing you from them and corrupting you. Then he tried to say that I was going to end up turning you into Voldemort, which really doesn't make sense because I want to kill the son-of-a-bitch for _ever_ daring to destroy the only thing I ever had that made my life worth living. I mean, who the hell does he think he is? So when I tried to walk away from them he tried to push me against the wall and I just grabbed his arm and heaved him over my shoulder. Nobody tries to put me down and gets away with it. I'm sorry if he's your friend but that's not something I'm willing to tolerate, and it's not something that I was taught to tolerate," Kaleb stared hard at Harry as if daring him to argue about what he had said. Harry put his hands up in defense and shook his head.

"No, I don't blame you. I heard what he said about you stealing my friendship and what not. What he said was completely out of line and honestly, I think it's good that someone knocked him on his ass for once. Everyone else has been too afraid to because he's so fricken tall," Kaleb smiled slightly at that. He let out a huge breath of air and went to rest on his bed. Harry followed to do the same. They lay together in silence thinking over the past few hours and talked a little here and there until it was time to head down to supper.

The teens didn't talk much at all during dinner and the adults talked mostly of the attacks on muggleborns and muggles and what would be better ways to ensure everyone's safety at home. It was then that Harry actually stopped to take a step back and just look at the discussion at hand, mentally removing himself from the situation. Most people have conversations about how their day went or a joke someone cracked in the office today, not about protection wards and how the buddy system was going to work and death and destruction. Harry felt an overpowering feeling of anger. They shouldn't have to worry about these things, especially the kids. His whole life Harry was never able to act his age, he was always forced to make decisions that were supposed to be beyond his years. He should have to worry about girls, and trying to find someone to take to the Halloween Dance, just regular teen things. He shouldn't have to be concerned about being killed or kidnapped when he steps out of his house. Because of Voldemort, Harry had to live his life always looking over his shoulder. Because of Dumbledore, Harry now had to question every action and every word someone said, just to see if it was the truth. A person can handle being lied to only so many times by the people they once trusted, before they learn not to trust so willingly. Now that Harry's eyes were open to Dumbledore's manipulation, he was very guarded towards the elderly man. He noticed little things that he would never have noticed that his headmaster said in what seemed to be casual conversation, as he had done earlier that day. Harry told himself then, that he would choose his allies wisely, and not base them off just pure friendliness, instead Harry would study the social sciences a bit so that he would be able to tell when someone is trying to manipulate him and to see if someone has ulterior motives because Harry was quite certain it wasn't just Dumbledore that was manipulative and cunning.

'_Kaleb was right about one thing'_ Harry thought to himself when he caught his headmaster's eye briefly. _'I need to start my occlumency lessons right away.'_

* * *

A/N: The ending was a little blah for this chapter, I kind of ran out of ideas and I was trying to get this done as quick as possible. I'm on dial up on the weekdays so it may or may not take longer for me to update than usual. I would like to say something to one of the reviewers, I'll not mention any names, but I'm sure they'll know who they are:

There is a purpose to the fact that I haven't released all the information you are seeking. It will show up later on in the story I realize that the story may be a bit dry but I am just getting out of a two year writer's block and I haven't written _any_ stories at all in that time period. I appreciate your insight to the "seriously vague innuendo, annoying filler, and the lack of information." However I do not appreciate the slight rudeness that has come forth in your comments. I asked for constructive criticism from my readers, which I believe means positive. If my story is really bothering you that much then don't read it, nobody is forcing you to.

This is a little message to that reviewer and anyone else that feels the need to leave a rude comment. I don't usually reply to rude reviewers and I probably won't from here on out. I would also like to thank everyone that sent me very happy and excited reviews and positive criticism. Honestly I feel so, so, so, thrilled when I get these because I know that some people are enjoying my story and I have even more initiative to continue it. Anyways this note is getting a little lengthy, so thank you everybody and happy reading! =D


	7. Chapter 6

Story Name: When the Truth Becomes a Lie

Rating: M

Warnings: Language, Slash, Detailed Violence/Abuse, Manipulation, AU, Weasley/Hermione bashing, Dumbledore bashing, Grey!Harry

Genre(s): Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Mystery, Fantasy

Summary: After Harry was severely injured during the summer at his relatives, he was taken to Head Quarters to heal. He meets a new boy that is also staying there, orphaned by a Death Eater attack and is intrigued by this strange person. Harry is also starting to question Dumbledore's motives in the war and begins searching for his own answers with the help of some people that share his views. Harry's life gets much more interesting with the new information he has acquired and he learns that not everything is as it seems.

*Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form. Any characters you recognize from the books/movies belong to J.K Rowling. The description of the Hell Demons belongs to the show Supernatural (great show by the way). The plot and added characters are my own.

Chapter Six

Kaleb was waiting at the front entrance to Grimmauld Place with the rest of the Weasley's, Granger, Tonks and Remus for Harry to come downstairs and join them. They didn't have to wait for long and Harry came down the stairs with medium sandy brown hair in color that was a little longer to cover his scar and he was wearing what was probably the most suitable clothes he had, which weren't very suitable at all.

"Harry, have you, by any chance, bought any clothing for yourself lately?" Kaleb asked hesitantly. Harry shot him an irritated look.

"No, why?"

"Well…do they have any clothing shops in Diagon Alley?" He asked.

"Only a couple and they're mostly robes, why?" Harry asked again, they were already outside and it was great to actually feel a breeze on the face.

"Well, I was thinking, maybe you'd feel more comfortable with clothes that actually, you know, fit," Kaleb replied giving a side glance to Harry's state of clothes. They were way too big for him and they were obviously old hand-me-downs. Harry looked down at himself and back at Kaleb.

"I guess…but we don't usually wear muggle clothes at Hogwarts, and I don't usually go out that often anyways so it's never really mattered," Harry said. Kaleb chuckled and shook his head.

"We're buying you some new clothes today, alright?" Harry made a noncommittal noise and they continued to walk with the group in silence. They were walked to the end of the street that they were on and Arthur looked down both sides of the street to see if there was anyone watching them. It seemed that there wasn't and he stuck out his wand hand and seconds later the Knight Bus appeared; apparently it was in operation during the day as well. They all boarded the bus and paid their fee; Harry and Kaleb took a seat near the back. The last time Harry had been on this bus there were brass bedsteads but now, during the day there were slightly lumpy cushioned chairs in their place. Harry grabbed onto the arms of the chairs as the bus lurched forwards, moving at break neck speeds. Harry looked around and noticed that Remus and Tonks weren't on the bus with them.

"Did you see Remus and Tonks? I thought they were right behind us," Harry asked Kaleb, slightly confused.

"I think they said that they'd meet up with us at the Leaky Cauldron. Remember they're-" Kaleb stopped talking suddenly and he stared out the window of the bus, white as a sheet. Harry, confused, looked out the window and saw nothing but passing houses that looked old and run down, abandoned businesses and many pubs and bars lining a dirty street. He couldn't see anything that would make Kaleb so, eerie.

"Kaleb? Hey, what's up? What are you looking at?" Harry gently shook the teen to bring him out of his trance. Kaleb's eyes snapped to Harry's and Harry was unable to decipher the emotion in his eyes. Kaleb sat back in his seat; still tense, then he croaked out, "That's where I lived, before…" He trailed off. Harry's eyes grew wide for a moment as comprehension washed over him.

"You mean that's where you were attacked? You lived there?" Kaleb only nodded and said nothing. Harry didn't pry anymore, it was obviously still a very sensitive subject to the half demon.

Harry had never seen the slums before; he had always lived in a perfect, pristine house that resided in a perfect, pristine suburb. He heard the Dursley's talk about homeless people and how they were all drunks and thieves and they were a complete waste of skin. They had no ambition in life and the only thing they would ever work for was another bottle of booze. Harry never believed his relatives, he tried very hard to think the opposite of them at a young age, but he had to wonder, as he got older, how those people ended up on the streets. He never thought about how hard it would be or how filthy it was because it was never really a concern for him, but looking at that dirty, run down area of the city made him feel a bit of pity towards the homeless, even if it was their own doing that they lived like that.

The Knight Bus had reached the Leaky Cauldron in a matter of minutes, not being too far to begin with and not having to stop on the way. The group of people piled their way out of the bus and it disappeared with a loud _BANG_. Arthur and Molly were looking around for something, then a quiet whistle sounded from their right, down the alley way and they saw Tonks' hand signal that they were there and it was ok to go.

They all walked into the pub and went straight to the brick wall in the back and Molly tapped the appropriate stones and the bricks shifted to let them pass.

"Alright, now, Ginny, I'm taking you to Madam Malkin's to get your robes, you've outgrown all of yours haven't you? Yes, then you children can decide who's going with who, it'll be faster that way. We'll meet back here in two hours alright? Good, off you go then," Molly, Arthur and Ginny started off down the alley, Ron and Hermione quickly following them and Harry heard Hermione mention they should go to Flourish and Blotts first.

"Come on, I've got to go to Gringotts to get some money, do you mind?" Harry said.

"No, that's ok," Kaleb replied quietly. He didn't look as shaken as before and he was talking again, which was a good sign. They quickly went to the wizarding bank and Harry walked up to one of the counters that had a goblin standing behind it.

"Excuse me? I'd like to make a withdrawal please," Harry said. The goblin slowly looked up from his paperwork and stared at Harry with beady little eyes.

"And what is your name?" the goblin asked. Harry searched to make sure no one was listening.

"Harry Potter," he said quietly. The goblin held up a hand, indicating that Harry had to wait a moment. Kaleb nudged Harry lightly.

"Dude, this place is fuckin' _huge_," he said. Harry laughed lightly.

"Yeah I know, pretty neat huh?" Kaleb nodded while slowly rotating on the spot looking at the whole inside of the bank.

"Mr. Potter, I believe that your late godfather, Sirius Orion Black, had made up a last Will and Testament, seeing as you were underage at the time of his death all possessions and property were placed in the hands of Albus Dumbledore until your coming of age. Now that you are seventeen I'm assuming you have gained ownership of all possessions? We just want to make sure that there were no complications," said the goblin. Harry was stunned. He was never told that Sirius had made a will, nor was he told that the animagus had left all of his possessions and his property ownership to Harry. Albus Dumbledore was holding all of it? The man never said a thing.

"No, actually, I never heard about my godfather's will, I just assumed he hadn't made one. You said that Albus Dumbledore was given ownership until I came of age?" Harry said. His voice was shaking slightly due to his anger. Kaleb, after hearing this, became quite focused on the conversation. The goblin's brow furrowed and he stood abruptly.

"Follow me Mr. Potter, we shall discuss this in a more private area," the goblin said sharply. Harry followed after him quickly, Kaleb right beside him. The goblin turned and saw Kaleb there and asked who he was.

"It's ok, he's with me, he can come in," Harry quickly assured the goblin. The goblin eyed Kaleb with slight suspicion but allowed him to enter the room. Harry and Kaleb sat in the two wooden chairs on one side of a large, ancient looking desk and the goblin seated himself across from them.

"My name is Hackner and I was in charge of managing Sirius Black's will. You say that Albus Dumbledore has never mentioned this to you?" Hackner asked. Harry shook his head.

"No he hasn't, like I said, I wasn't even aware that my godfather had left a will,"

"Hmm…Dumbledore was supposed to immediately transfer ownership to you after you turned seventeen," Hackner said thoughtfully.

"Is there any way you can change ownership, without bringing Dumbledore here?" Harry asked.

"Yes, yes, the will clearly stated that you were to gain ownership of all possessions and property from the Black name, that includes the vaults here at Gringotts. Albus Dumbledore was only a holder of your possessions because you had no magical guardian to hold them for you and he is your headmaster. It is odd that he did not mention the will to you, indeed, but I will have the bank transfer the ownership, no problem at all," Harry sighed in relief. He really didn't want to have to get into a huge battle with his headmaster over ownership of what was rightfully his by law.

"Now, you said that you wanted to make a withdrawal? Do you have your key with you Mr. Potter?" Harry quickly retrieved his key from his jean pocket and handed it to Hackner.

"Thank you, please follow me this way Mr. Potter," Hackner lead Harry and Kaleb to another goblin that had a sour look on his face and left them to it. After getting all the money he needed and even giving Kaleb some as well, after lots of protesting and arguing of course, they headed their way down to Flourish and Blotts.

"That was sooo much fun!" Kaleb exclaimed, talking about the 'roller coaster ride' down to Harry's vault. Harry just laughed at him and kept walking.

"Seriously! How many banks have their own roller coaster in it? Not many I can tell you that, and do you know what the best part out of the whole thing is?" Kaleb asked, his eyes shining

"No what?" Harry replied

"It's free! You don't have to pay for it!" Harry laughed again.

"Your unbelievable, most people puke their first run down there," Harry said.

"Psh! Not for me thanks, I love thrill rides, don't you?" asked Kaleb.

"Well I can't really say, I've never been to a carnival or anything, the only 'ride' I've ever been on is a broom and what you call a 'roller coaster' at Gringotts," Kaleb looked at Harry in disbelief.

"You can't be serious? You're totally missing out here! I'm taking you to the next fair that shows up," He said with determination. Harry was trying not to laugh at Kaleb, but it was very difficult because the half demon was so excited, just like a little kid and it was kind of cute.

_'Wait, cute? Where the fuck did _that_ come from?' _slightly freaked out, Harry stopped walking and was staring at Kaleb. The boy was attractive, there was no doubt about it, but Harry wasn't interested in boys, so he had no reason to think that…did he? Hearing Kaleb call him, he broke out of his thoughts and continued his way over to the bookshop.

Once inside they searched for their seventh year books. While it wasn't too hard to find the texts that they needed, Harry had a hard time dragging Kaleb away from the Defensive Spells and Dark Arts section. Harry was about to go to the clerk to pay for his things when he saw a section of books that had peaked his interest. He walked over to the Creatures section and read the book titles. This division of the bookshop was all about other creatures, most of them were beasts but Harry caught sight of a very large tome that had no picture on the front and only a title that read Creatures and Customs: Volumes I II and III. He picked up the large book and opened it. Inside was an index of hundreds of different species of creatures. It seemed to be the book that summed up the whole Creatures section of the book shop. In the second volume is where Harry found most of the humanoid creatures, such as vampires, demons, veela, etc. He grabbed the book and walked towards the clerk.

"Hey, I was wondering where you went. I'm buying some other books, you know, extra reading material," Kaleb winked at Harry and went to pay for his books. When Harry got up to the counter he asked the clerk if he had the second volume of Creatures and Customs separately.

"Hmm…I don't know about that," the man said. He was short and old and seemed as though if you touched him he would collapse. "Let me check the back here," he disappeared behind a bookshelf and Harry waited while he searched.

"What are you looking for?" Kaleb asked. Harry showed him the tome.

"I want to get the second volume of it separately. You said that there were books on demons, so I'm buying one. Well hopefully, if he has it," Kaleb just looked at him and grinned a slightly wicked grin. Harry just rolled his eyes, becoming more familiar with Kaleb's odd ways.

"Alright, I've got one here, but it's not in the best of shape. I might be able to order another for you, if you could come back in two weeks maybe? It's a pretty rare find actually," the clerk stated. Harry frowned.

"I'm going to school next week so I won't be able to come back, could you perhaps mail it to the school?"

"No, I'm sorry, but we don't do that anymore. Too many people complaining about getting the wrong books or not receiving them at all, or the book showing up in a state of disrepair. Sorry about that," the man said.

"Oh, that's alright. I'll just buy this one then, along with these," Harry paid for his books then made his way out of the shop with Kaleb.

"Alright, so clothes next?" Kaleb asked.

"We still have to go to the Apothecary, then to Madam Malkin's, and then we've got to head to the quidditch shop, I need a new broom if I'm going to be able to play on the team still and-" Harry stopped walking abruptly, almost causing a man to run into him, and stared at Kaleb.

"What?" the half demon asked

"Do you have a wand?" It was an odd question asking a seventeen year old wizard, well half wizard, half demon, but Harry had never seen him use a wand before. Kaleb just smiled and pulled out a wand from his sleeve.

"I just don't use it often," he said. Harry tilted his head to the side slightly then just shrugged and continued on his way to the Apothecary.

After they had done all their shopping and got their new robes for school they headed to the quidditch shop so Harry could get a new broomstick to replace his Firebolt that he destroyed in the 'incident'. He ordered a new Firebolt and was told it would be sent to him tomorrow morning. Now that was all sorted out, Harry looked at his watch and saw they still had forty minutes to spare. He looked up and met Kaleb's mischievous eyes and a roguish smile. He frown in slight concern and took a step back from the teen.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked slowly. Kaleb's smile turned into a grin.

"Because, you don't want to go clothes shopping," Kaleb said as if that explained everything. Harry's frown deepened.

"What..?" he began.

"We have forty minutes left, that's plenty of time to get you a few decent outfits, and there's going to be no arguing on the subject because I refuse to let you walk around looking like _that_ when you could look so much more…tempting," with another grin Kaleb grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him towards the clothing shop across the alley, ignoring Harry's sputtering non-sense.

The store was like any other and it consisted of mostly robes, but there were a few shelves and racks that had muggle clothing as well. Kaleb pulled Harry over to one of the shelves and turned around to look at Harry. Harry himself was feeling a bit self conscious with the way that Kaleb was staring at him but pushed that aside and obediently took anything that Kaleb handed him. He looked at the pile of clothes in his arms and scrunched his nose slightly.

"These are all green and black," he stated. Kaleb continued his mad hunt for clothing.

"Yeah I know, your eyes are green, it'll bring their color out better,"

"But these are Slytherin colors." Harry protested. Kaleb stopped searching through the rack they had come to stop in front of and frowned at Harry.

"So?"

"So…I'm not in Slytherin, I'm in Gryffindor,"

"I honestly don't care," Kaleb said and turned back to the clothing rack. Harry frowned again but kept his mouth shut, there was obviously no point in arguing with Kaleb.

Kaleb piled a few more shirts into Harry's already full arms and pushed him towards the changing rooms.

"You have to show me everything," Kaleb told him, ignoring Harry's protests. Harry was pushed into a tiny cubicle and he glared at the curtain when it closed, grumbling to himself about nutty half demon teenagers. He was reluctant to try on the green so he pulled out a white button up shirt with a silvery design of a Chinese dragon on the left side and a pair of black jeans and put them on. He stepped out of the stall and searched for Kaleb in the changing area, not seeing him he walked out to the front. Kaleb was looking at a row of robes and wrinkling his nose in distaste. When he heard someone clear their throat he looked to his left and saw Harry standing in front of him with an uncertain expression. His eyebrows shot up and his mouth quirked in a half smile, while he looked Harry over.

_'Damn, I'm gonna have to beat the ladies off with a bat to keep them away,'_

"Nice, very nice, turn around," Kaleb said. Harry turned in a circle and stared back at Kaleb. He smiled at Harry and nodded his head.

"Good, we're keeping that. Now go try on the others," It went like this for the next fifteen minutes and by the time Harry had put on the last outfit, he was quite ready to leave the store as soon as possible.

"Kaleb, seriously, if I have to put on another outfit I'm going to lose my bloody mind," said Harry as he walked out to the waiting area. Kaleb gave up on finding anymore clothes after Harry kept throwing them back over the top of the cubical.

"This is the last one don't wor-" Kaleb almost choked when he saw Harry and his mouth fell open, not trying to hide the fact that he was _definitely_ checking the brunette out.

"What? Is it that bad?" Harry asked, looking down at himself. He was wearing a dark forest green casual button up shirt, open, with a black wife beater underneath and black straight leg leather pants, that were tight, but not so tight they cut off circulation and black combat boots. He looked back up at Kaleb and saw that the teen was still staring at him shaking his head. Kaleb made a little turn around motion with his hand, so Harry did and when he faced Kaleb again, he was still staring at him and eventually he drew his eyes up to meet Harry's.

"Damn," was all Kaleb said. Harry raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're keeping that," Kaleb said and went out to the front to wait for Harry. Shaking his head at his friend's oddness, he went back to the cubical and changed then grabbed the five outfits he was buying and met Kaleb at the front.

~*~*~*~

"So I was thinking, you should learn physical combat," Kaleb said to Harry one afternoon. When he said this Harry looked up from his new book and tilted his head at Kaleb. It was only a couple days before they had to go to Hogwarts and they were lazing around in the den with their new books. Harry had been reading up on demons, but he couldn't really find any new information on them from what Kaleb had told him. Even though the book had many different creatures, it had minimal information on them. It did however give a brief description of the four species of demons.

"Why's that?" Harry asked.

"Well, in case you ever separated from your wand and were unable to cast spells or use your magic for some reason, then you wouldn't be helpless. That and you'd have the advantage by the element of surprise, because most magical people in this realm don't have any melee training…and…oh shit…" Kaleb looked at Harry with wide eyes and found Harry staring back at him with a very odd expression.

"Say that again?" Harry said. Kaleb just looked at Harry fearfully.

"Kaleb, what did you just say?" Kaleb swallowed thickly.

"Uh…I said that most magical people in this realm don't have melee training…" Kaleb mumbled. Harry sat up from lying on the floor and gave Kaleb a hard stare.

"What did you mean by that exactly?" Kaleb looked around and shook his head.

"Not here, I'll explain later, I promise," Harry stared at Kaleb then decided he was probably right; anybody could be listening in on them right now. He went back to his book and read the descriptions for each demon, trying to take his mind off the questions that would drive him mad if he didn't get any answers right away.

_As far as researchers know, there are four species of superior demons: Hell Demons, Blood Demons, Incubi or Succubae and Elemental Demons. All Demons are able to do wandless magic and are usually quite adept at destructive magic. Also, universal to every type of demon is super strength and heightened senses. The most common demons to be found are the Hell Demons, also known as Black Eyed Demons. _

_Hell Demons are not known to contain special powers or abilities like the other three species of superior demons. The Hell Demons do not have wings or a tail and usually look like any regular human when they are not in their True Form, which make them sometimes hard to identify. A Hell Demon in its true form will have completely black eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Hell Demons are also known to have fairly aggressive personalities and are not usually found in largely populated areas; they have a tendency to stick to themselves. _

_The Incubus (male), or the succubus (female) is a very sexual creature and they stimulate lust in any mortal or creature that is not resistant to their powers. A few creatures that an Incubus/Succubus cannot easily seduce are Vampires, Veela, and most Fae creatures on the grounds that they are all very sexual creatures themselves and have some form of allure. These demons need sexual intercourse to sustain their lives. When one hears of an Incubus or a Succubus they often think of a mindless sex demon but in recent years these demons have been able to contain themselves and control their compulsive urges with the help of a potion that can be brewed to help sustain the demon. An Incubus can sustain themselves with this potion, on average, for a whole month without sexual intercourse of any kind. These demons often find themselves a partner that will allow the demon to use their body to sustain themselves so long as their partner is a __**willing**__ participant. Much like the Hell Demon, the Incubus looks like a regular human and does not have wings or a tail. They do not have a True Form except when they use their allure to seduce their victims, they tend to have a gold aura around them and people have reported that their eyes will shift and change to hypnotize their victims. _

_The next demon is one that is not found as easily as a Hell Demon or an Incubus, a Blood Demon. They are similar to Vampires in the way that they need blood to sustain themselves; they are, however, not related to Vampires. Blood Demons obtained their name from their history of brutal, animalistic killings and murdering masses of people millennia ago. They have changed their habits to fit a more civilized role as time and customs change. Blood Demons are now known for their uncanny ability to perform flawless blood rituals. These demons do have bat like wings, usually dark red in color and they have a devil like tail. In their True Form, a Blood Demon's eyes will turn to crimson and their wings will glow red. A Blood Demon that had mastered Blood Magic will have runes appear in black on their wings in their True Form, although no one knows why this happens. _

_The rarest of all demons is the Elemental Demon. They have the ability to control an element and are therefore naturals at Elemental Magic. Elemental Demons also have wings and a spade shaped tail although they are never any particular color when they are not in their True Form. One can usually decipher from the color of the demon's eyes what element they control, unless they control one of the lesser elements, which have no set color, but they will usually have a bizarre or exotic eye color. An Elemental Demon's True Form imitates what element they control, therefore each and every demon's True Form is different. For example, a demon that controls the element of water will have wings that have a wet and shimmery look to them and they will usually be a dark blue, the same goes for their tail. The demon's eyes will most likely be aqua in color. Some Elemental Demons have been rumored to have runes decorating their wings in their True Form that relate to their element but this has not been confirmed by professionals. Not much else is known about these demons because they are so rare. _

_'Hmm…that's interesting,' _Harry thought. He was about to continue to read about the demon's but he felt a hand on his shoulder and when he looked up and saw Kaleb nodding his head towards the entrance of the den. Harry sat up and got his books together, then followed the teen to his room. They both went in and Kaleb closed the door, locked it, put an alarm on it and then put a silencing charm around the room. Harry raised an eyebrow at his friends actions, thinking they were maybe a little excessive.

"Come sit on the bed," Kaleb said. Harry followed him over and made himself comfortable and waited for Kaleb to explain what his little 'slip up' meant earlier.

"You have to understand, Harry, this is something that I'm not supposed to discuss with _anyone_. It's even more case sensitive than telling the muggles about the wizarding race and magic. You cannot breathe a single _word_ about this to anybody. I'm even hesitant to tell you until you've accomplished a proficient mind barrier," Kaleb said. Harry was a bit surprised, what could be so secret that Kaleb was worried about someone getting into Harry's head and finding?

"I promise, I won't say a thing about this, whatever it is. And maybe it'll inspire me to work harder on my occlumency?" Harry joked. Kaleb however did not smile, he just looked away and sighed, trying to decide if he should really tell Harry about this. Harry sensed his discomfort and reached for his hand.

"Hey, it's ok, you can trust me," He said quietly. Kaleb stared back at Harry, conflict clearly showing in his golden eyes.

"I know I can trust you, it's everyone else I don't trust…well almost everyone else, Remus and them don't seem to be too bad. It's just difficult, because this is something that I haven't even spoken of for eight years," Kaleb detached his hand from Harry's and ran it through his hair.

"When I said 'realm', I didn't mean a separate universe per say, what I meant was a different…society I guess. It's just what we call the place in English. It's an underground society of sorts. It's mostly made up of different species of Fae, Werewolves, Vampires, Demons, Shape-shifters, Elves, almost any kind of humanoid creature you can think of. I'm not going to tell you the name of it; I don't want anyone distrustful getting their hands on that kind of information. All I can tell you really is that I lived there for three years of my life, when my mother couldn't support me at a time. She knew of it because of my father, they were in love you know. I told you that he had left my mom when she became pregnant and he did, but only because his clan had called him to go off on some mission for them. I don't know what it was, my mother didn't know either, all she said was that it was clan business and a demon's clan is its family. He died on that mission, which is why I never knew him, and that's also why my mom never married him. Anyways, my mother new of this place because my father had taken her there once. Honestly, it's not the safest place on the earth, actually it's downright brutal, but it was the only place she could trust to leave me. I was a kid at that time, but I learned a lot. I made a few friends too, but I haven't seen them since I was nine years old. I don't have a problem with what you call the dark arts because that's basic knowledge there, same with physical combat and many other things that 'this realm' considers unsafe, savage , dark and dangerous. Maybe it is all of that, but it's what helped keep me alive and that kind of place teaches you how to survive and have a half assed chance of actually making it out of any fight alive. I don't really want to say much more on the subject, I'm sorry Harry, really," Kaleb gave Harry a pleading look and the brunettes heart almost melted at the puppy dog eyes that the half demon gave him.

"Alright, I understand, this is obviously a tough subject to talk about," Harry said. Kaleb sagged with relief then in a blink of an eye he pounced on Harry.

"Thank you! Thank you for understanding Harry!" Kaleb cried.

"Ahh!! Kaleb, off, get off!" Harry yelled, he was quickly becoming squished by the sudden weight on him and he was finding it hard to breathe like this while he was laughing. Kaleb was grinning like a fool and he rolled over to lay beside Harry.

"You know, you trust me too easily," Kaleb said. Harry frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Well I could very well be feeding you a bunch of crap and after that poor explanation you believe that I'll tell you absolutely everything some other time, so you trust me too easily," the half demon clarified. Harry thought about that for a moment.

"Well, you haven't really given me any reason not to trust you, yet, and you're as honest as you can be with me, I'm assuming, and you've helped me see a lot of things that I would have missed completely, like how my friends, or rather, ex-friends are trying to manipulate me just like Dumbledore is and stuff like that," Harry turned to look at Kaleb and saw a knowing smirk on the teens face.

"Point out the key words in that sentence: Yet, I'm assuming, and stuff like that. That's not very stable ground is it?" Kaleb asked. Harry's eyebrows furrowed then turned to Kaleb with an annoyed look.

"Are you trying to put me against you or something? I have faith in you god damn it, and it's gonna stay that way until you prove otherwise, you smug little creep!" Harry exclaimed. Kaleb just laughed, and laughed, then laughed some more and eventually they were both laughing so hard they had tears streaming down their faces.

"Whew, you know something?" Harry said, still catching his breath.

"No, what?" Kaleb replied.

"I don't think I've ever laughed as much with Ron and Hermione as I have with you," Harry turned his head to look at Kaleb and Kaleb did the same. They both smiled and snorted out some more laughter. When they had completely calmed down Kaleb announced he was exhausted and he should probably get some sleep. Harry exited his room with a small smile on his face, not being able to recall being this lighthearted but feeling good about it all the same. He wasn't quite ready to go to bed yet so he went down to the kitchen for a snack. Sitting in a chair at the kitchen table Harry saw Remus reading some papers and eating an apple, completely engrossed with what was in front of him, the werewolf didn't hear Harry enter the room until he was right beside him.

"Oh! Jeez, Harry, careful there you could give an old man like me a heart attack," Remus said.

"You're not that old Remus, and I doubt your about to have a heart attack. Sorry about that though, thought you would have heard me, you know, with your wolfie hearing and all that," Remus snorted at that.

"Usually I would have but I'm just reading up on something here,"

"What's it about?" Harry asked politely, while grabbing a banana from the fruit bowl on the counter.

"Just some old reports. Actually, these are the reports of your parents death to be honest," Remus said quietly. Harry sat down across from Remus and looked down at the papers on the table.

"Can…can I see them?" the teen asked tentatively. Remus looked at Harry and thought for a moment before pushed them over to him. Harry looked down and picked them up, glancing over the reports and staring at a picture of a house half blown to pieces and the dark mark in the sky above it.

"Was this the house?" Harry asked. Remus nodded his head slowly, watching the boy closely.

"That was Godric's Hollow, yes. You were found in the rubble, I still don't know how you survived that, even if you survived the curse, the house basically collapsed on you." Harry looked up at Remus with a small grin.

"Well I guess if I can die and come back to life I'd be able to take half a house falling on me as a baby huh?" Remus smiled at that and laughed slightly into his coffee cup.

"So why are you reading these?" Harry asked.

"Well, some things that Dumbledore have said in regards to your parents in the past and recently don't sit right with me. Something just seems off, I don't know what yet, so I'm looking through the reports to see if there's anything unusual in them. So far, I haven't found anything and I've read them twice over," Harry laughed humorlessly at that.

"Yeah, well there's a lot that Dumbledore has said and done that doesn't seem quite right. Hell I wouldn't even be surprised if he had something to do with their death or something," Harry said bitterly.

"Well, that's what I'm trying to find out," Remus said quietly. Harry quickly looked at him.

"You think he might have?" he asked apprehensively. Remus just shrugged his shoulders.

"I can't be sure, and I'm not going to assume anything, but like I said, something just seems off," Harry sat back in his chair arms crossed, with a contemplative expression as he slowly ate his banana. Remus glance up at Harry and snorted lightly.

"What?" Harry asked. Remus just shook his head smiling lightly still looking through the reports.

"Nothing, you just look a lot like your mother when you do that, same expression and everything," They were silent for a while, enjoying the comfortable companionship for a change, instead of the apprehensive meetings that they had about Dumbledore or Voldemort, or really anything to do with Harry at all.

"What was she like?" Harry asked. Remus looked up with his eyebrows slightly raised, then he frowned faintly and quirked his mouth a bit, thinking.

"Well, she was very friendly, very caring. She was amazing at charms, and I remember quite a few times when she cast a few choice ones on James when he was, pursuing her, shall we say," Remus smiled at the memory. "She definitely had a temper, and sometimes I wonder if _your_ temper came from her. She had spirit though, that was for damn sure. She'd fight to the death to defend something she believed in and she absolutely _hated_ it when she was corrected on something she believed in strongly, which was very rare mind you, she usually had all her facts right. But when that did happen, well, the common room had a habit of becoming empty very quickly. She was caring though, she was one of the most caring people I'd ever met. She definitely passed that on to you," Remus looked at Harry and smiled. Harry was hanging onto his every word, as if he was afraid he'd miss something important.

"She was very beautiful too, there were so many boys that were chasing after her, but the one that she refused every single time, without fail was your father. Well that is until she actually accepted his request to take her on a date in their seventh year. I personally think that she always fancied him somewhat, but it was a matter of pride. I think she felt that if she gave in to him it would be like giving up a fight, but eventually James cooled down, he grew up I guess and she agreed to go on a date with him. They were pretty much inseparable from then on. Well except for when they'd argue…then it was like a riot. Sirius especially liked to listen to their arguments and comment from the side as if it were a quidditch game and that annoyed Lily to no end. She was quite a fearful woman you know, when she wanted to be, but most of all she was loving," Remus smiled and sipped at his coffee, not having much else to say, and seemingly lost in his memories. Harry felt an ache in his chest, a loss for his mother and father, but he didn't feel depressed anymore when he thought about them, at least not as much as he had before. Eventually Remus dragged himself out of his memories and asked if there was anything else that Harry needed.

"No, I think I'll go to bed now actually. Thanks though, for telling me about her and for being honest with me," Harry said trying to convey his gratefulness. Remus looked at Harry and his eyes almost shone with happiness.

"Anytime Harry, you can trust me. And look, I know that Sirius was very important to you and that you were close to him and I know that he was really the only one that you went to talk to about things, but I just want to make sure you know you can come to me anytime, and I'm not trying to replace him at all. I know that you can't replace a person like Sirius, it's pretty much impossible," Remus chuckled slightly. Harry laughed slightly as well, thinking back to his godfather and to a certain golden eyed boy that was currently sleeping upstairs.

"Yeah I know there are just some people that can't be replaced. And I know that you're not trying to replace him Remus, and I'm really happy that we're getting to talk more often, and get to know each other better. Sometimes I wonder how our relationship would have been if my parents hadn't died and this whole mess never came to be," the teen said. Remus nodded with understanding.

"Me too," he said.

"Anyways, it's getting late so I'm going to head up to bed. See you tomorrow Remus, good night,"

"Night Harry, and don't forget to pack your trunk tomorrow, you'll want to be ready ahead of time,"

"I'll remember, night," Harry left the kitchen and Remus heard him walk up the stairs to his room.

"Good night cub," the werewolf said to an empty room.

* * *

A/N: Awwww! Lol I want to cuddle Remus now. =3 Review plz!


	8. Chapter 7

Story Name: When the Truth Becomes a Lie

Rating: M

Warnings: Language, Slash, Detailed Violence/Abuse, Manipulation, AU, Weasley/Hermione bashing, Dumbledore bashing, Grey!Harry

Genre(s): Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Mystery, Fantasy

Summary: After Harry was severely injured during the summer at his relatives, he was taken to Head Quarters to heal. He meets a new boy that is also staying there, orphaned by a Death Eater attack and is intrigued by this strange person. Harry is also starting to question Dumbledore's motives in the war and begins searching for his own answers with the help of some people that share his views. Harry's life gets much more interesting with the new information he has acquired and he learns that not everything is as it seems.

*Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form. Any characters you recognize from the books/movies belong to J.K Rowling. The plot and added characters are my own.

Chapter Seven

The two days had past and Harry and Kaleb were now seated on the Hogwarts Express, waiting for it to leave to Hogwarts. Usually Harry would be quite excited about going back to the school, the only place he had ever considered a home, but now with the new developments, Harry wasn't nearly as excited as he normally would have been. The day before was hectic, trying to pack all his stuff without forgetting anything and accidently packing all his clothes and leaving none for the next day, which were at the bottom of his trunk so he had to unpack everything and then repack it and it went on like that for most of the day. Currently, he and Kaleb were sitting quietly reading their books, Kaleb a dark arts book (as usual) and Harry, his Creatures and Customs book. Kaleb and Harry had been meaning to start the Occlumency lessons as well as the melee training but they never seemed to get around to it. It wasn't so much that they didn't have the time, it was more the fact that they were either procrastinating or they didn't feel that they were in a private enough space for them to practice. They had both decided, however that they would start their practice sessions as soon as possible, no questions, no excuses.

Kaleb stretched and yawned before going back to lounge on the bench with his book. Harry glanced at him and smirked slightly to himself. Kaleb always had a way about him that made him seem like a cat. He was quite lithe, as Harry had found out the day before after a wrestling match and he had thought he had the half demon completely pinned to the floor but he somehow got his legs wrapped around Harry and flipped them, and the teen moved a bit like a cat as well. Harry chuckled to himself when he remembered one of his very first conversations with Kaleb about curiosity killing the cat. Harry shook his head and glanced at Kaleb again and noticed something. The necklace that he had seen the half demon wear the first time he met the teen, Harry realized that Kaleb was always wearing it, Harry had just become so used to the trinket he hadn't noticed it, but the light coming in from the window hit the stone just right and made it sparkle.

"Hey Kaleb, where'd you get that necklace?" He asked curiously. Kaleb looked down and grabbed the gem.

"It was from my mother, she gave it to me right before sending me to that place. She said that my dad gave it to her. I don't know what it is but she said that it was related to him somehow. I dunno how though," Kaleb replied.

"Oh, cool," Kaleb went back to his book and Harry went to his. They read as the students hugged and kissed their parents goodbye on the platform and walked past their compartment to find their own to wave to their parents from the windows. When they had boarded the train, Ron and Hermione walked past them without a glance and continued down the train to find a compartment far away from them. People passed by, paying no mind to the two teens in a compartment half way down the first car of the train, laughing with their friends, telling stories of their eventful or uneventful summer holidays, relishing in the first few moments of friendship reunion. The two boys read quietly, equally paying no mind to the students passing by almost as if pretending that there wasn't a world outside their compartment, quite content with each other's silent companionship and nothing more in that moment.

The train started to move, and Harry looked out the window to see parents and children too young to attend Hogwarts, waving goodbye and blowing kisses. He watched until the train rounded a corner and he could no longer see the platform. He looked down at his book, and closed it, rubbing his eyes and stretching. He'd been reading for the better part of an hour and his mind was becoming quickly worn out with the overload of information on too many creatures.

"I'm gonna go walk around a bit, my legs are stiff," Harry told Kaleb. The other teen just nodded his head, not taking his eyes off his book. Harry exited the compartment and walked down the train, hands in the pockets of his new faded jeans. He wasn't really thinking about anything in particular, but his mind was racing over hundreds of thoughts in mere seconds, not hesitating for a moment for him to really contemplate on any given thought that crossed his mind. He was about to turn around after five minutes and walk back to his compartment but the door to another compartment opened behind him and out of it stepped a tall teenage boy with platinum blond hair and a pointed, yet handsome, face. Behind the boy was two others, however they were not as refined as the blond, instead they both looked a bit like gorillas with their oversized arms and too small heads. Harry immediately tensed and his face became stony as he recognized Draco Malfoy and his two cronies.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Malfoy droned in that annoyingly bored tone of his. Harry only glared at him and said nothing.

"You know Potter, someone should really teach you what manners are. In case you haven't noticed, you've wandered into a restricted part of the train. Only those that are _worthy _enough to be here are welcomed, and _you_ are definitely not welcome," Malfoy sneered. Harry raised an eyebrow and tried not to laugh at the blond. Normally, this would have provoked Harry to snap at him but now, for some strange reason, he found it humorous that this blond pretty-boy thought that he owned this part of the train.

"Really? Well I'm so sorry, Malfoy, forgive me for _ever_ missing the _invisible _sign that stated that I was not welcome here. Please, excuse me; I'll be out of your gel clogged hair in no time. Besides, I have no wish to be around such …repulsiveness," Harry smirked and bowed mockingly before turning on his heal, leaving the stunned aristocrat behind him. He was smiling to himself and shaking his head in amusement, slightly surprised at himself.

_'I guess Kaleb is rubbing off on me more than I thought,' _he mused. Almost before the thought had even finished Kaleb stepped out of what Harry thought was an empty compartment, startling the green eyed teen.

"Nice Harry, I thought I was going to have to step in myself, but I have to say, you handled that quite well. Maybe there is hope for your social skills," Kaleb smirked. Harry glared mockingly at Kaleb before smiling.

"That wasn't social skills, that was just plain disrespect," Harry replied. "And what were you doing down here anyways?" he asked as an afterthought.

"Ah, yes but it takes social skills to insult someone effectively," Kaleb said, ignoring Harry's question. Harry raised an eyebrow at the half demon and stared at him while they walked back to their compartment. Eventually Kaleb just looked at Harry with an innocent, bright eyed appearance.

"Don't look at me like that, answer my question!" Kaleb raised an eyebrow at Harry and Harry rolled his eyes.

"Please," he added. Kaleb beamed then entered their compartment without saying a word. Harry followed him and closed the door, sat across from the teen and continued to stare at him.

"You know you're doing exactly what you hate me doing right?" Kaleb asked.

"Yes, but I'm waiting for an answer," Harry replied. Kaleb gave a breathy laugh.

"Alright, I was looking for the loo and I came across you and what's-his-face and heard him trying to insult you, if you could even call that an insult,"

"Ok good. Now can you tell me again why you were following me without lying so horribly this time?" Harry smiled when Kaleb growled at him.

"Taught you too damn well…I just wanted to make sure you didn't get mobbed by Weasley and…what's-her-name, the bookworm," Harry seemed satisfied with that, although didn't really think Kaleb should be one to talk about bookworms.

"Oh, well thanks for that but I think I can handle those two on my own,"

"No problem, I was just there as back up, that's all," Kaleb picked up his book again and began to read.

"Don't you ever stop reading?" Harry asked. Kaleb looked up in surprise

"Yeah, why?"

"You're always reading, don't you get tired of it?" Kaleb smiled slightly

"Not really, it was all I had growing up and it stuck, so no, I don't get tired of it," he thought for a moment. "Well, unless what I'm reading is a boring history book on the goblin wars or some shit like that, then yeah, I get tired of reading," Kaleb grinned at Harry and the brunette returned the gesture, knowing exactly how Kaleb felt about goblin wars.

The rest of the train ride was pretty peaceful, nobody bothered them and they were either reading or talking. They tried to play a game of chess, but for some reason Kaleb's chess pieces decided to go rouge and attacked the two teens whenever they got too close to the playing pieces. Eventually they just gave up on that idea and talked instead.

"So, are you being sorted or has Dumbledore even said anything about that?" Harry asked Kaleb. Kaleb was changing into his robes and Harry noticed that Kaleb's was still the standard black robes, having no house colors on them. Kaleb looked down at himself with slight disgust.

"I dunno, he never talked to me about it, just said that I'd be attending Hogwarts. I'd imagine that I'll be sorted, I don't see why not, and besides, maybe a little color will help these things out," he said picking at the black fabric. Harry just grinned at the teen and exited the compartment to change in the bathroom, not wanting the other boy to see his scars. He thought to himself as he walked down the train, he had never noticed how picky Kaleb was about clothes until the couple days before when he went on the rampage trying to get Harry a couple outfits for casual wear. Harry himself didn't much care for the whole clothes shopping thing, he was sure he had made that clear to Kaleb when they were shopping and remembered quite well the death glares he had received that day for not following his friend's orders. He had to admit though, the clothes that Kaleb had picked looked pretty damn good on him.

"Hey, I think I see the castle up ahead," Kaleb announced, staring out the window when Harry returned. Harry turned and looked and saw that they were indeed coming up to Hogsmeade Station and Hogwarts was on top of the hill in all its ancient glory. He felt a mixed sense of dread and happy familiarly. The two teens exited the train with everyone else but just as Kaleb was about to follow Harry to the carriages he heard a loud voice calling him from behind. He turned around and saw what was probably the largest, hairiest man he'd ever laid eyes on. Harry stopped beside him and sighed.

"That's Hagrid, first years have to go over there and take the boats up the castle," Harry explained.

"Yeah but I'm not a first year," Kaleb protested. He didn't want to be stuck in a boat with a bunch of whiney kids.

"Well, technically you are because this is your first year. You're probably being sorted with the rest of them that's why. I'll see you at the castle. I'll save you a spot, ok?" Kaleb frowned.

"What if I'm not sorted into Gryffindor?" Harry rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, I'll save you one just in case, and you better get sorted into Gryffindor, I don't think I could handle those two on my own all the time," Harry grinned and continued to make his way to the carriages leaving Kaleb alone with a very perturbed expression.

~*~*~*~

The Great Hall was especially noisy, as it usually was at the Opening Feast. Harry was sitting by himself, as far away as he could from his two former best friends and watching the doors eagerly. He heard heated whispers to his left, although the people talking didn't seem to be angry at each other. Harry glanced over and saw Ron shooting him livid glares and Seamus and Dean sending Harry disgusted looks. The brunette frowned but said nothing, not in the mood to start anything with his dorm mates. A few minutes passed when the doors to the Great Hall opened and Professor McGonagall swept through them and a crowd of frightened looking first years following her. Harry searched the crowd for Kaleb but he didn't see anyone that stuck out, as he should have. Figuring that the teen was going to be sorted last he relaxed a bit and watched as the sorting took place. He was only really half listening, thinking mostly about which house Kaleb was going to be sorted into.

~*~*~*~

Kaleb was standing outside the Great Hall, just aside from the doors and frowning at a suit of armor across from him. It was kind of freaking him out a bit, because its head was turned towards the Great Hall but every once in a while it would turn slightly to Kaleb's direction. Kaleb decided that the suit of armor was probably trying to be discreet about looking at him, but it was kind of hard to ignore the squeaking metallic sound it made whenever it moved. Well that and the empty suit of armor was actually moving which didn't seem to be quite right to him. Finally Kaleb heard his name being announced.

~*~*~*~

"Thank you Professor McGonagall. Now, in the history of Hogwarts there has never been a transfer student, however now that dark times are upon us, Hogwarts has taken upon itself to accept the students of families that believe their children would be safer, here at Hogwarts. Please welcome our very first transfer student, Kaleb O'Neill," Dumbledore beamed down at the children seated in the Great Hall.

Harry listened to the headmaster's speech and couldn't help but feel appalled. He knew that Kaleb had to have a cover story of some sort, but to straight out lie about Hogwarts accepting transfer students seemed a little much, seeing as Kaleb was the only 'transfer student' that was going to ever enter Hogwarts. Harry watched as Kaleb appeared from the Entrance Hall and he noticed from the fleeting look he got from Kaleb that the half demon was not impressed at all. Kaleb walked down the center isle of the hall with grace and Harry also noticed that much of the female population was almost swooning at the 'Transfer Student' and even some of the guys were checking him out.

Professor McGonagall motioned for Kaleb to sit on the stool and she placed the Sorting Hat on his head. Harry noticed that Kaleb was pretty relaxed at first but soon after his transfiguration teacher placed the hat on his head he tensed up. Harry assumed that it was just the unexpectedness of the hat's voice suddenly speaking to him in his head but he noticed that Kaleb seemed to be getting more and more agitated as time passed, then he realized how long the sorting was taking for the teen.

"GRYFFINDOR!" Harry blinked, not because the hat had yelled out his house name, but because the hat did so with what sounded like anger. Kaleb yanked off the patchy material walked briskly to where Harry was seated; ignoring the applause he received from his house. When Kaleb sat beside Harry, the brunette was about to ask what had just happened but received a side look from the boy that told him to shut his mouth and not ask any questions. Harry frowned at his friend's antics but turned to give his attention to his headmaster.

"Thank you, please quiet down. Thank you. Now before we dig into our delicious meal, I would like to say a few things. First and foremost, please welcome your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Tonks," there was a scattered applause as there usually was for the new defense teacher but the Gryffindor table seemed to be the most enthusiastic. Harry's jaw dropped when he saw Tonks stand at the teacher's table, wondering how he could have missed her spiky bright pink hair and laughed.

"Can you believe that? Why didn't she say anything?" Harry exclaimed. Kaleb smiled and shook his head.

"Dunno, maybe she wanted it to be a surprise. It's good she's here, at least we know that someone is here that is on our side,"

"Yeah, well Snape's here too, but he hates me so I'm not sure how much help he's going to be to me,"

"He doesn't hate you," Kaleb said. Harry frowned at him and was about to ask where that came from but Professor Dumbledore had already begun to speak again.

"Professor Tonks has graciously agreed to take up the defense post this year, as she is taking a break from her Auror duties. On a more serious note, I'm sure we are all aware of a certain wizard that has been causing much grief for the past year or so. A wizard that once attended this school in fact; Tom Marvolo Riddle, whom you all know as Lord Voldemort," most of the students gasped and flinched at the name. "The staff and I have come up with a few rules for each and every one of you to follow for this year, and for however many more to come. Now I am not about to stand here rambling off these new rules and waste time, you will all receive this list of rules tomorrow morning with your timetables. You are all expected to read and memorize these new rules; they are for your safety. Now I do believe that you are all quite hungry yes? Well, eat up then!" The headmaster smiled again and seated himself, the tables suddenly piled high with many different kinds of food.

"Whoa…"Kaleb's golden eyes grew as large as saucers when he saw the food in front of him. His mouth immediately began to water as he stared hungrily at the roast beef, licking his lips. Harry turned to Kaleb and laughed at his friend's expression.

"You know, you can actually eat it, it's not there for you to just stare at," he said, mirth laced in his voice. Kaleb just looked at Harry with an expression that would suit a little child, his eyes shining and grinning wide.

"I'm in heaven," was all he said before he dived in. Harry snorted, shaking his head as he piled his plate with food. The feast was delicious as it always was and Harry was reminded why he loved the school to begin with. He and Kaleb didn't talk much during the feast, mostly because Kaleb was too busy stuffing his face. He had never seen so much food in his life and it was _so good_. The feast ended before long and after being dismissed and wished a goodnight's sleep from the headmaster, the students began to migrate from the Great Hall to their common rooms. Kaleb stayed close to Harry, not having a clue as to where anything was and Harry lead him up many flights of stairs, including the moving staircases where he complained that they were a dangerous hazard and someone was bound to get killed one of these days. They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady along with many other Gryffindor students. Hermione Granger, who was at the front of the group being the Head Girl, said the password and the portrait swung open to let in the students.

When Kaleb saw the common room, his first thought was, _'That's a lot of red,'_ but he decided it looked comfortable enough. Harry pulled on his sleeve telling Kaleb to follow him to the dormitory and they walked up the flight of stairs to the boy's dorm. Seamus, Dean and Neville were already in the dorm; Harry was relieved to find that Ron wasn't up yet. He yawned and flopped down on the bed that had his trunk at the end and sighed. Kaleb looked around the room and saw that his bed was across from Harry's and beside a boy that was tall but even at seventeen had a baby boy look to him. He didn't seem very confident either.

"Hey Harry, how was your summer?"Neville asked, glancing at Kaleb for a moment.

"It was…alright, I guess. What about you?" Harry stood up and started to rummage through his trunk for his night clothes.

"Oh it was ok, kind of boring really," Neville replied. He turned to Kaleb and looked as though he was searching for something to say, and not wanting to irritate the teen. Kaleb half smiled to himself, sensing the boy's uneasiness but also knowing his intentions were good.

"Hey, I'm Kaleb. You are…?" Neville's eyes widened a bit but he replied.

"Neville Longbottom. I'm—" he was interrupted by Dean speaking.

"You're the transfer student right? Ron told us about you," the dark skinned teen said, dislike quite evident in his voice. Kaleb's eyes hardened and he looked past Neville.

"Yeah, and?" he said. Harry stood up and watched Kaleb, looking for any sign of a fight starting.

"Oh nothing really, he just told us that you were probably better suited for Slytherin than Gryffindor, you know, what with your _fascination _with the Dark Arts and all," Dean smirked and turned back to Seamus who was chuckling and they went to the other side of the room to talk amongst themselves. Kaleb only raised an eyebrow before going over to Harry's bed. Neville had grabbed his night clothes and headed towards the bathroom when Dean had started to speak, probably wanting to avoid a fight.

"So I guess the red head has already started to pick his battles hey?" Kaleb bit out. Harry didn't say anything at first.

"He's probably just bitter because I've finally woke up and he probably thinks that it was because of you. He doesn't know about Remus and them. Like you said, Dumbledor's got those two wrapped around his little finger,"

"Whatever, I don't really give a shit, but if anyone starts anything, I'll finish it. Anyways, that Neville guy seems to be ok," Harry nodded.

"Yeah, he's a pretty good guy, quiet, but he can surprise you. Doesn't really seem like the type to be in this house at first but he's done some pretty bold things," Harry and Kaleb talked for a few minutes before Kaleb turned in for the night. Harry had yet to change into his pajamas and was about to take his shirt off before remembering his scars. He frowned and headed towards the bathroom to change into his night clothes.

He had meant to change quickly so that he could go straight to bed and hopefully avoid Ron, but he made the mistake of looking in the mirror. He stopped short when he saw his reflection and drew in a sharp breath. He felt a twinge of horror rise from his chest into his throat and he swallowed compulsively. Harry had only seen his scars from looking down at his chest when changing or at his arms, but he not looked into his reflection since what his uncle did to him. His whole torso and arms were covered in jagged scars, some long, some short but they were all deep pinkish purple. The wounds on his stomach were some of the deepest and they were surrounded by dry, puckered skin. They weren't very painful anymore; they had healed over almost completely now just large scabs, but they were horrible to look at. He never really saw himself as 'drop dead gorgeous' like Kaleb, but he knew he wasn't ugly and he had never really experienced self consciousness except for when he was around a girl he liked, or that day shopping for clothes with Kaleb. Now he was completely uncomfortable in his own skin, he was tainted and damaged and he didn't feel like himself now that he looked into his reflection and he felt a sense of loss for the person that he once was. Anger flared up inside him, overriding the loss. He was angry at his uncle for ever daring to violate him like this and he was angry at Dumbledore for ever putting him in an environment like that and not having the decency to check up on him every once in a while. If he had, maybe this would have never happened.

Harry grabbed his night shirt and hastily pulled it on, along with his flannel pants and quickly walked out of the bathroom. Ron still had not entered the dorm, a small comfort, and Harry walked straight to his bed and shut the curtains around him after a quick goodnight to Kaleb and Neville.

~*~*~*~

Kaleb woke early, far earlier than he needed to, but he was not about to fall back asleep. He checked the clock on his night stand and it read a quarter after six in the morning. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he pulled back the covers and got out of bed, being sure not to disturb any of the boys in the dorm. He pulled out a pair of grey sweat pants and a black hoodie from his trunk and changed swiftly, making no noise and exiting the dorm. He was apparently the only student awake, and it made sense really, the first day of classes and most of the kids wanted to get in as much sleep as possible. Kaleb never really worried about sleep too often, he could function on only a few hours of sleep being more resistant to fatigue. He slowly made his way through the castle, remembering the route that Harry had taken him the night before and soon enough found himself in the entrance hall. He glanced quickly into the Great Hall, not seeing any students and only a couple professors that he did not know before he exited the school, the crisp morning September air hitting his face. He breathed deep and smiled slightly, loving the freshness in the air of a beautiful morning. He saw the lake ahead of him and began to jog over to it and when coming to the edge of it, followed the bank of the lake. He started at a fairly relaxed pace and gradually built up his speed. After about half an hour he turned back and continued on his jog. He was running now at a steady pace, not wanting to be late for his first day and he still needed a shower.

Kaleb got back to the school twenty minutes after seven and he continued to run up to his dormitory, receiving very odd looks from some of the students that were already heading their way to the Great Hall. When he entered the dorm, he was breathing fairly heavily and he walked over to his bed and pulled out his school robes. Most of the guys were already awake, only Ron and Harry were still in bed and Kaleb could tell that Harry was awake by the way he kept shifting around, not seeming to want to get out of bed. He smirked before heading quietly over to his friend's bed. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at Harry before grinning evilly. He silently cast his spell and watched in amusement as Harry shot out of his bed with a loud yelp scratching at himself frantically. Kaleb barked out a laugh before running into the bathroom and closing the door, knowing Harry was hot on his heels. He sniggered to himself, leaning on the door, listening to Harry's shouts and threats.

"Kaleb god damn you! Open the fucking door or I swear I will castrate you and curse you into next bloody year! Take the hex off! Kaleb! Argh!!" Harry ceased his banging on the door and Kaleb opened it cautiously, peering out the crack.

"What's the magic word?" He asked the teen that was currently hopping around and scratching at his arms and back. He received a very lethal glare and he snickered.

"Fuck you," Harry replied still scratching. Kaleb tsked.

"Now, now, that's not very nice is it? What if I just decided to not take the hex off, then what would you do?" Harry continued to glare daggers.

"I would bloody kill you that's what!" Kaleb laughed and shook his head before wandlessly taking the curse off. Harry abruptly stopped scratching and sagged in relief before he stood up properly again and stared at Kaleb.

"You're _sooo_ dead," Kaleb just grinned and closed the door again. He quickly showered and changed and exited the bathroom, Harry taking his place and glaring at him as he walked passed. Kaleb and Harry both ignored the glares and the not-so-subtle comments that their other three dorm mates threw at them. Neville minded his own business, keeping his head down as he always did, not partaking in the jabs at the boys, and not defending them either.

Harry and Kaleb made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast and to receive their time tables.

"So where'd you go this morning?" Harry asked as they sat down on the benches. Kaleb grabbed some toast and bacon.

"Just for a jog, I want to get into a routine so that I don't slack off on my physical training or anything. I was thinking actually, you should come with me; it can be the start to your training as well. I'm thinking of doing ten minutes of stretching, then fifteen minutes of jogging, or running, and then thirty minutes of strength training, like pushups, weights, crunches yada, yada, yada, and then a five minute cool down" Harry looked up at Kaleb, his eyebrows raised.

"And how early do you expect to get up in the mornings to do this?" Harry asked. Kaleb thought about it for a moment.

"Well classes start at eight thirty right? So if we get up at, say, six twenty five that gives us…five minutes to wake up then that whole routine would take approximately an hour so we would be finished by seven thirty roughly then we'd have time to get ready for the day, you know have a shower eat breakfast and still have time to get to our first classes," Kaleb explained. Harry didn't look very impressed at the thought of getting up a whole hour and a half earlier than he usually did but he didn't want to put off his training any longer.

"Why does it have to be in the morning?" He asked.

"Well, it's different for everyone I guess, some people work better in the afternoon or even the evening but in the morning, when your body is waking up its refreshed and so is your mind. You're not thinking about anything that you may have gone over in class or the huge load of homework you already have and you're not worn out and exhausted in the morning. It helps you to wake up and put you in a better mood and you can concentrate better during the day, at least it helps me. I also like the morning because most people aren't awake yet and you have peace and quiet and you're ready for the day," Harry nodded.

"Alright, we can start tomorrow if you want," Harry suggested. Kaleb agreed and they continued to eat their breakfast. The Great Hall was beginning to fill with more and more students and Professor McGonagall was handing out the timetables and new rules to the students.

"Here are your timetables Mr. Potter, Mr. O'Neil. Don't forget to read over the new rules," she handed them the timetables and walked away. Harry read over his timetable quickly, groaning inwardly at Tuesday and Thursday because of double potions. They had some classes together, defense, transfiguration, history of magic and herbology. Kaleb had advanced potions and ancient runes instead of astronomy and regular potions though. They headed to their first class, transfiguration and settled somewhere off to the left side of the room and chatted quietly before their lesson started. Harry never really enjoyed transfiguration, it was not his strong suit and he found this year just as hard as the last. Kaleb didn't seem to be having any problems that he could see; the boy was leaning almost lazily back in his chair and pretended to pay attention to what the professor was saying. Harry looked around the class and caught Hermione's eye. The bushy haired girl frowned slightly at Harry and diverted her attention to the teacher. Harry scoffed in his mind but did the same, trying not to let it get to him.

Transfiguration passed slowly and when the bell rang Kaleb and Harry quickly made their way to history of magic and Harry realized that this day was not shaping up to be a good one when he was tripped by one of the slytherins when making his way out of Professor McGonagall's class room and dumping his book bag in the door way, blocking anyone trying to get out or in and receiving some very annoyed looks from the other students. He quickly picked up his books and stuffed them in his bag and caught up with Kaleb, who was waiting on the other side of the hall for him. Harry was quite relieved when the lunch bell rang and he turned to say something to Kaleb and saw that the teen had fallen asleep during Professor Binns droning. He smiled slightly, thinking that he looked peaceful but quickly chased the thought away.

_'Seriously, what's wrong with me lately?'_ he shook his head and picked up his quill and tickled Kaleb's nose with the feathery end of it. Kaleb's nose twitched slightly but he did not wake and Harry did it again. Out of nowhere, Kaleb sneezed loudly and sat straight up with a look of sleepy bewilderment on his face. He looked around quickly and his eyes landed on Harry who was doubled over his desk trying to, unsuccessfully, stifle his laughter. Kaleb's eyes narrowed and he huffed before grabbing his bag.

"That was payback for this morning I'll have you know," Harry said, still smiling. Kaleb looked at him and couldn't resist a half smile himself before shaking his head and putting an arm around Harry's shoulders.

"You know, you shouldn't pick fights with someone that is much more experienced than you. I'll win no matter what," There was cockiness in Kaleb's voice, and he made no attempt to smother it. Harry only raised an eyebrow at Kaleb. They made their way to the Great Hall for lunch and Kaleb was thinking about Harry's occlumency lessons.

"So when do you want to start your other lessons…you know, occlumency, combat, all that," He asked. Harry bit his lower lip and thought for a moment.

"Well, I've got quidditch to worry about, so we can't do anything on practice days, but I have a free period on Wednesday before lunch, I think you do too, don't you? Yeah, so we could do something then and maybe after dinner on Fridays. Saturday I've got quidditch so we can't do much then, maybe a little wandless practice or something," Harry suggested. Kaleb nodded slowly, thinking it over.

"Well, we can make a schedule. What's most important for you right now?"

"Probably occlumency," Harry mumbled, not looking forward to that.

"Okay, well we should do that on an evening, if we do it in your spare period, you'll be too tired to do any work in your next class, so on Friday's then, and maybe on another day. We can start with two times a week and work with that first. We could do melee training on Wednesday but again, you'd be pretty knackered afterwards. So wandless then if you'd like, and again a little on Saturday, like you suggested if it's not too much. Remember you want to pace yourself,"

"What about combat training?" Harry asked.

"Oh yeah. Uh…Sunday? That sound good? We could add another occlumency lesson on Tuesdays after class as well. That gives you Monday and Thursday to rest then," Harry agreed and they spent the rest of their lunch break just talking about random things, although they noticed some people glaring at them or muttering things about them to their friends. Apparently Ron had spoken to more people about Kaleb's misinterpreted 'fondness of the Dark Arts' and Harry being friends with him anyways. Even the Hufflepuffs were giving them odd looks. Most of the Slytherin house were either ignoring them or making crude jokes, the Ravenclaws not doing much of anything, although Harry received a couple dirty looks from a group of younger girls. Most of the Gryffindors had all but abandoned Harry, choosing like the Slytherins either to ignore him or to throw scathing remarks at him and Kaleb. Kaleb didn't seem to be bothered by it, water off a duck's back and all that, but these were the people that had always been behind Harry in almost anything he did, he even taught most of them in his fifth year because that dumb Ministry bint didn't know what the hell she was doing. He sighed and tried not to think much of it. It was almost like when the ministry had made Harry and Dumbledore out to be liars, people assuming and taking the word of others rather than ask the person himself or herself what was going on.

_'Fine, they want to be like that then let them. It wouldn't be the first time that they did this, so why would it be the last. Fuck 'em.' _Harry thought. The rest of the day was uneventful herbology and charms and Harry was happy when the last class ended. Kaleb was in ancient runes at the moment and Harry went to his class to meet him, so he didn't get lost trying to find his way back to the common room.

Kaleb exited the classroom not expecting to see Harry standing there, but was pleasantly surprised when he was. They headed to the common room and dumped their books and things in the dormitory before going back down to the common room to relax. Harry was thinking he should probably start on his homework, a foot long essay in potions, questions to answer in transfiguration and a diagram to fill out in herbology but he was too tired to do much of anything at the moment.

"Your school is seriously lacking," Kaleb said when they sat down on the couches in front of the fireplace.

"How do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Well the ancient runes class is so…basic. I guess the school isn't expecting many people to become curse breakers or trained spellweavers or anything like that hey?" Harry tilted his head to the side, looking at Kaleb

"Spellweavers? What are those?"

"People that create spells and enchantments, wards and bindings, the most legendary spellweavers were from Egypt, you know all the pyramids and tombs they're riddled with really complex, dangerous magic that were usually created by spellweavers. Anyone can make a spell if they're trained in the arts of the runes, but spellweavers have an ability to actually see the runes and literally weave them together to make a spell or ward. I'm not sure exactly if that's how it's done but it's something along those lines," Harry found this quite interesting, as he'd never heard of it before. He knew that Ron's older brother, Bill Weasley was a curse breaker and he had worked in Egypt, breaking curses in pyramids but no one had ever mentioned spellweavers.

"So are spellweavers born or is it something that can be learned?" Kaleb shook his head.

"No you're born with it. There aren't many left in the world, a lot of them were killed or taken captive for their abilities in the times when people used to think that if you killed a witch or wizard, you could absorb their powers or something; they're really valuable. Most of them now just keep to themselves and don't mention their ability to anyone,"

"Interesting, I've never heard of them before,"

"Not many people have," they fell into silence as they both stared into the fire, thinking about different things. It was interesting how Kaleb knew about so many things, things that most people never talked about and things that seemed like they belonged in a fairytale book. Harry guessed it was because of the 'secret society' he had lived in for three years, and because he was half demon.

~*~*~*~

The next two weeks were pretty much the same as the first day had been. Kaleb and Harry got up early in the morning, did their exercise, which Harry had no idea how strenuous it could actually be, then attended their classes. On Tuesdays and Fridays after classes he did his occlumency lessons, which he wasn't making much progress in at all, Wednesdays during his and Kaleb's free period they worked on Harry's wandless magic as well as Saturday after quidditch practice. Sundays Kaleb taught Harry the basics of physical combat, which at the moment consisted of sharpening his reflexes and different striking techniques. Harry was very grateful for Mondays and Thursdays because he didn't have any 'extra curricular activities' and he could take time to relax or do his homework, which was slowly starting to pile up.

The classes Harry hated the most at the moment was transfiguration and, not surprisingly, potions. Harry was becoming more and more confused with transfiguration; he just couldn't get his mind to understand the theory, which in part made his practical performance poor. He had asked Kaleb to help him, but even with the half demon dumbing it down for him, he was still having trouble understanding.

It was no surprise that Harry was having such a difficult time with potions, everyone knew that it definitely was not Harry's best subject. Harry had thought that maybe, since Snape was helping him see past Dumbledore's manipulative ways that he would lay off Harry a bit this year and he felt quite silly for thinking such a thing once he saw the loathing glare his potions professor had sent him at the beginning of his first class on Tuesday. He was the same snarky, biased professor that Harry met in his first year and the man took every opportunity to degrade Harry in any way. Since Neville was no longer taking potions, Harry had become his favorite victim.

"Silence!" the class quieted dramatically, nobody taking the chance to piss of their professor as he strode to the front of the classroom, robes billowing behind him and put the ingredients and instructions for the potion they would all be brewing today on the board. This was one class that Harry wished deeply that Kaleb had been with him.

"Today we will be brewing the healing salve that you had all wrote your essays on last week so you should all know how delicate it is. It will consist mostly of herbs and oils, but that does not mean that it is not dangerous. The dragon's blood used in this potion must be added at the precise time and the exact amount or it could react with the oils in the salve and render the potion to be explosive. _Everyone_ will use extreme caution when brewing it," Snape looked right at Harry when he said this and Harry got the message loud and clear. Don't screw up.

Well like anything in life, Harry did exactly what he wasn't supposed to do, and added the dragon's blood in too soon and put in too much. His potion turned a violent red and started to smoke and boiled over.

"Shit," was all he said and ducked. Every student had heard him and copied his movement, hiding under their desks in record time. A few seconds after that, the potion exploded, splattering a red gunky substance that covered the walls and desks of the class room. Everyone slowly made their way back out from under their desks and were silent. Snape was standing behind his desk and looked absolutely livid.

"You, Potter, are the most infuriating, incompetent, insufferable little _child_ that I have ever met," Snape spoke quietly, which Harry found to be much more disturbing than his usual shouting.

"Sir, I—"

"SILENCE!" the man roared and the whole class jumped. Harry quickly looked down to his shoes, which had a spot of red on the toe.

"I don't know how you managed to get into this class Potter, but I must have had a moment of insanity to let you in. Twenty points from Gryffindor and you will have detention with me for the next week. From now on you are going to be taking remedial potions lessons and that will be the last straw Potter. If you do not somehow miraculously pull up your grades you will be asked to leave this class. Now clean up this mess, everyone else, get out!" Snape turned on the spot and walked to his office and slammed the door. The students scurried out of the classroom, some laughing to each other at Harry's misfortune and others just smirking. As the days went by, the more the students of Hogwarts shunned him and Kaleb, with Ron at the root of it all. A few students, like Neville, Luna and Colin Creevey still talked to Harry, apparently able to have a mind of their own, but even they had become a bit distant.

Harry cleaned the class room, with magic since his professor hadn't specified otherwise and when he was done he headed for the Great Hall. He found Kaleb already at the Gryffindor table and plopped down beside him before resting his head on the table with a _thump_. Kaleb was reading a book, Harry didn't know which one, and muttered a 'hello'. After a couple minutes he turned away to look at Harry with bemusement.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked, reaching for a ham sandwich. Harry just heaved a big sigh and closed his eyes. Kaleb patted his head and went back to his book. Harry opened his eyes and saw this and furrowed his brows.

"Thanks for caring," he said dryly.

"Well I asked what was wrong, you didn't respond," Kaleb protested. Harry rolled his eyes and sat up, also grabbing a sandwich.

"Well, I managed to explode another cauldron, and Snape pretty much lost it on me, I'm sure he was restraining himself from throttling me. So I had to clean the classroom of the sticky red goop and I have a week's detention with him and I also have to take remedial lessons otherwise I'll be kicked out of the class. Kaleb winced.

"Ouch, tough luck mate," Harry just hummed and ate his sandwich. He was quite sure that his professor had been serious about the remedial lessons, unlike his fifth year where he was actually doing occlumency. He was almost finished his second sandwich when a shadow had overcome him. He slowly looked behind him, fearing who was standing there. Snape was glowering down on him and he shrunk away slightly.

"Be at my office at seven o'clock tonight Potter, and do not be late, we wouldn't want any more points taken away would we?" He swept away before Harry could say anything, not that he would really.

"So how many points did he take?" Kaleb asked.

"Only twenty, actually. I thought he'd like something like fifty," Harry replied.

"Meh, not too bad," they quickly finished their lunch and started towards defense against the dark arts. Tonks' classes actually proved to be quite enjoyable, almost as enjoyable as Professor Lupin's but Harry thought that nobody could top the werewolf's lessons. Kaleb and Harry picked a seat near the front, as usual and waited for their professor to enter. Tonks wasn't really a formal professor, at all. She preferred if the students just called her Tonks instead of professor or professor Tonks and she almost always had on some band T-shirt and black pants under her robes, which were usually open. Most of the students loved her, except a few of the Slytherins, because of her odd personality and dress code but even they had to admit that she knew what she was talking about and the fact that was an Auror was kinda cool.

"Hey class!" Tonks entered the classroom with a cheerful smile, as she always did. "Sorry to tell you guys, we're doing a theory lesson today so put your wands away…hey that rhymed," she giggled slightly and Harry chuckled at her child like attitude. She was a fun loving person, easy to get along with, although if one was in a bad mood, she could definitely get on their nerves.

They had a pretty boring class Tonks talked a bit about some of the really nasty curses, mostly illegal ones and they had to read the chapter on dark curses and enchantments then take notes about them.

Kaleb was working quite diligently, already knowing most of what he was reading, but taking notes anyways when someone poked him in the back. He turned around, irritated.

"Yes?"

"You must be in your glory huh? Isn't this your kind of thing, you know, hexing people making them dance around a bit just for fun right. Bet you know some really dangerous spells yeah?" the boy speaking was snickering with his friend and staring back at Kaleb with defiance, daring him to say something.

"Oh yeah, definitely. You know just a few curses that'll turn your skin inside out, a couple hexes to make your eyes dry up in their sockets. Is that what you were looking for?" Kaleb spoke with fake enthusiasm as if he were discussing something especially fascinating to the other kid and gave him a short glare before turning around and continuing on his notes. The boy's eyes had widened largely and he got a frightened and shocked look on his face and he blinked a couple times before he shakily went back to the assignment. Harry had heard the exchange of words and nudged Kaleb slightly and titled his head, worry showing in his green eyes. Kaleb smiled tightly at him before going back to his work and Harry returned to his.

~*~*~*~

After dinner Harry made his way down to the dungeons and to Snape's office, dreading his meeting with the professor. He came to the office door and checked his watch, four minutes to seven and knocked on the door. He heard his professor call him in and he stepped through then closed the door behind him and waited.

"Sit," Snape pointed to the desk in front of his. Harry complied and again, waited.

Severus was grading papers from his second year class, and he was in a very bad mood, apparently none of them understood the proper use of the mandrake root other than how it related to restorative potions and such. He sighed and rubbed his temples, he could feel a head ache coming on. He looked up and saw that Harry was sitting in the desk waiting to be told what to do.

"I have another student coming so we can organize your remedial lessons," Harry nodded and looked around the classroom and at the jars that contained odd substances that he didn't really wish to know of. Then a though came to him

"Professor, before term started, Remus had mentioned something about you finding out some disturbing information. It was a while ago and he explained it to me but I was just wonder if, maybe you could—"

"If you are trying to ask me to teach you occlumency the answer is no," Snape said sharply. Harry frowned.

"No actually I wasn't going to; I've got Kaleb helping me with that. I was just going to ask if you could tell me anything new about the subject," Snape raised a black eyebrow and stared at Harry with his cold eyes.

"I have not heard of anything new. All I know is that the Dark Lord has somehow found out that Kaleb is half demon. Why?"

"I was just wondering, I haven't been told anything new from Tonks or Remus, so I thought maybe you'd know something," Harry said.

"If any of us had received any new knowledge one of us would have told you," Harry just nodded and fell silent again. Snape seemed to have lost some of his angry edge, but he didn't want to push the issue. A few moments later someone knocked on the door to his office. He called for them to come in and Harry turned to see a teen with rusty brown hair, golden caramel eyes and an uncut crystal necklace. Harry's eyebrows shot up at seeing Kaleb and the half demon just grinned at him.

"So you're my new student huh?" Kaleb joked. Harry looked confused and turned to Snape.

"Kaleb has the highest grades in my advanced potions class, so he will be the one to tutor you for your lessons. Unlike your other little 'lessons' with him, you will be accompanied by me at all times and they will take place in my classroom. I understand that you already have a schedule for your other things?" Harry nodded and told him what days he was doing what. They worked it out so that Harry and Kaleb would come down to Severus' classroom after dinner on Mondays for his lessons. He was quite surprised when he saw Kaleb but he was definitely happier with this arrangement than the one he thought he was going to have to endure. They were quickly dismissed and Harry left his professor's office feeling a lot lighter than when he went into it.

* * *

A/N: Yay! After so long I've finally finished the seventh chapter! So sorry for the wait by the way, I've been a little out of it lately as you probably know from my last note. Thank you everyone for being so understanding and patient, I was so touched when I read my reviews =). My school work has been falling a bit behind, so I have to focus on that more, which really sucks, so I'll be a little slower on the updates T_T I know, it's horrible right? Lol. Review please!


	9. Chapter 8

Story Name: When the Truth Becomes a Lie

Rating: M

Warnings: Language, Slash, Detailed Violence/Abuse, Manipulation, AU, Weasley/Hermione bashing, Dumbledore bashing, Grey!Harry

Genre(s): Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Mystery, Fantasy

Summary: After Harry was severely injured during the summer at his relatives, he was taken to Head Quarters to heal. He meets a new boy that is also staying there, orphaned by a Death Eater attack and is intrigued by this strange person. Harry is also starting to question Dumbledore's motives in the war and begins searching for his own answers with the help of some people that share his views. Harry's life gets much more interesting with the new information he has acquired and he learns that not everything is as it seems.

*Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form. Any characters you recognize from the books/movies belong to J.K Rowling. The plot and added characters are my own.

Chapter Eight

Kaleb was walking down an empty hallway, after just visiting Severus' office about his grades. Apparently Kaleb was the first student that Severus had come across with an aptitude for potions much like his own and he had asked Kaleb to help him with a project of his. It was a potion that canceled out the cruciatus curse's aftereffects and he was so close to having it perfected, he just wished that someone was able to help him but he could not find anyone skilled enough in the art of potion making, until Kaleb came along that is.

The half demon was happy that his professor had asked him to help him with the project; he was even thinking of asking the man if he could become his apprentice after he finished school. He'd always liked potions, but it was a late interest. He didn't know that he even had the talent until after his mother took him back from The Realm. He was making his way back to the common room, it was well past dinner and he had already eaten in Professor Snape's office, when he thought he heard something move behind him. He stopped and listened carefully but he couldn't hear anything so he continued to walk. His senses all of a sudden became extremely sensitive and he stopped walking abruptly. Adrenalin pumped through his veins, and his subconscious was sending him messages that he was in danger. He closed his eyes and listened carefully and sure enough, he had heard someone breathing behind him. He stayed completely still and his eyes darted around him. He noticed the torches on the walls, fire burning from them and he concentrated on that.

The fire went out and the hall was plunged into darkness, though he was not worried. Because of his heightened senses and being half demon he had better night vision than most people and he slowly turned around. He could not see anyone but he could still hear the faint breathing. He drew the power the he had taken from the light of the fire and conjured it up to modify it into an orb of light. The part of the hall where he was standing was filled with a bright, fiery orange light but it was not enough to light the shadows in front of him. He sent it higher in the air and a little farther ahead of him and he could still see no one. He was sure that he could hear someone breathing…Kaleb sighed and extinguished the orb deciding that it was probably just a draft making noise in the hall. He turned back around to continue down the hall when he heard, seconds before he was pushed into the ground, hurried footsteps. Someone came up behind him and roughly pushed him down, trying to pin him, but with years of training and experience he was much too fast for the person.

He quickly elbowed whoever it was in the ribs and pushed himself over and flipped them so he was on top and turned sideways again to stand beside the person in a matter of seconds. They kicked out at him but he leaped back and aimed a kick of his own and caught them between the legs. He heard whoever it was grunt loudly and saw them curl up. Well that told him it was a boy. He conjured the orb once again and leaned over the boy and roughly grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him roughly.

"Who the fuck are you?" Kaleb growled. The teen looked up fearfully but said nothing. Kaleb glanced down and saw he was wearing a blue and black tie, Ravenclaw. He shook the boy again, making his head snap back and forward again painfully.

"I asked you a question,"

"D-Derrick Gunderson," the boy stuttered. Kaleb dropped him unceremoniously on the floor.

"Why were you following me Derrick?" Kaleb was pretty sure he knew the answer but he wanted to hear it from the boy's mouth.

"You're into dark magic. Your probably a Death Eater or something and Ron Weasley said that you corrupted Potter, probably put a curse on him or something to make him your little puppet," Derrick's voice became more venomous the more he spoke and Kaleb could see he was angry. He just shook his head and glared at the other teen.

"Is that what you heard? Well maybe you should get a mind of your own and stop believing what everyone else says. I thought Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart?" Kaleb scoffed and turned to walk away but he heard the boy quickly get up and swung back around pinning him with a dark glare.

"Are you looking for a fight because believe me, I will fight you and then when I've beaten the shit out of you I'll stand over you saying 'I told you so'. Get lost, and tell your friends to fuck off as well," Kaleb extinguished the light once again and marched down the hall angrily. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, but his legs carried him back to the Gryffindor common room and up to the dormitory. He flopped down on his bed with a large sigh and rested his forearm over his eyes, blocking out the light.

"Kaleb? Are you alright?" a meek voiced floated through the air. Kaleb started slightly, unaware that he was not alone. He sat up and looked to see who had spoken and saw Neville standing by his own bed with a book in hand, looking at Kaleb with slight concern. Kaleb smiled at Neville but it felt more like a grimace.

"Yeah, I'm ok, just tired," Kaleb replied. "What's that?" nodding towards the book in Neville's hand wanting to divert his attention. Neville looked down and shrugged.

"Just a herbology book. It's about exotic magical plants with poisonous affects. Most of them have healing properties too though, which makes them pretty rare," Kaleb heard the excitement in the boy's voice.

"Oh cool, that sounds pretty interesting," Kaleb said. "I used to like herbology a lot when I was younger. I liked all the cool plants that moved around and tried to grab you…don't know why," he mused. Neville smiled slightly, glad that someone took an interest in plants like him, even if it was a small interest.

"Hey, you haven't seen Harry around have you?" Kaleb asked. Neville shook his head.

"No I haven't actually. Sorry," Neville replied. He stood there for a moment shifting from foot to foot, not sure if he should say anything else and feeling really awkward.

"Uh…well I've got some homework to do so I'm gonna go do that," he said quietly.

"Okay, thanks Neville," Kaleb got up and walked to the showers, thinking Harry would probably be back from wherever he was by the time he got out.

Harry wasn't back when Kaleb had got out of the showers and he was beginning to get a little concerned. It was half an hour to curfew and Harry was usually back by this time. He went out to search for him and twenty five minutes later he still hadn't found him. He gave up and headed back to the dorm when he heard someone call him. He turned and saw his head of house, Professor McGonagall.

"Mr. O'Neil, please follow me," was all she said.

'_Am I in trouble? I didn't do anything, unless…it was that kid wasn't it. Oh I'm gonna kill him!'_ the transfiguration teacher lead him down a corridor he'd never seen and he was wondering where she was taking him. They came to a door and when she opened it, Kaleb was hit with a sudden brightness and realized that most of the room was white. There were beds lining the walls with curtains and metal trays and he realized that it must be the hospital wing, though he couldn't understand why his professor had brought him here.

"I'm afraid that Mr. Potter has been involved in a very serious accident," McGonagall spoke gravely. Kaleb was filled with a sudden dread. Was Harry okay?

"What happened? Is he alright?" he asked frantically.

"Well, he is stable but we're not sure as to what happened. It almost seems like he fell off the moving staircases, which is rather surprising although not unbelievable. He was unconscious when he was brought here, he did wake for a few moments and asked for you, but he fell back asleep. He suffered two broken ribs, a fractured skull and a dislocated shoulder. We've since healed all of his wounds but he has yet to wake up," Kaleb became more anxious when she listed off his injuries.

"So what? Is he in a coma or something? Is he going to wake up soon? What's wrong with him?" he exclaimed. Irritation flashed across McGonagall's face and her lips became thin

"Madam Pomfrey said that he is not in a coma, he's just resting. He had to recuperate, he was very lucky that he survived so yes he will wake up, but it may not be for a few hours, maybe a couple days. The matron said that his brain had swelled because of the impact but he should be alright," Kaleb sighed and felt a bit better, but he was still worried about his friend, how could he have fallen off the staircases?

"Can I see him," he asked, his voice was hoarse. Professor McGonagall nodded and showed him to one of the beds with the light green curtain drawn half way, blocking anyone from seeing him when they walked in. Kaleb went right to the side of Harry's bed and stared at him. He had a bruise on his forehead right by his hairline that had already turned purple and his arms had bruises as well. He noticed a few thinner, longer bruises on his upper arm that were quite faint, almost not even there but he knew what they were. Harry didn't just fall down the stairs; he was pushed, or thrown.

"It is past curfew Mr. O'Neil, I just thought you would like to know, but I'll have to escort you back to your common room now," Kaleb felt slight pressure on his shoulder, directing him away from Harry's bed. He followed without resistance, wondering who would have done this to Harry. His first thought was Ron, but he didn't think that just because Harry had chosen to be friends with Kaleb that he would all of a sudden try to kill him. Then he thought of the Ravenclaw, Derrick, but that didn't seem right either. The boys seemed more concerned that Kaleb had corrupted Harry than Harry being a dark wizard himself. There were plenty of people in the school that steered clear of Harry now, ever since Ron started his rumors but who would be so angry that they tried to kill him?

Back in his dormitory, Kaleb could not sleep. He had told Neville about Harry and the boy seemed deeply concerned and upset about it. He quickly went to go tell everyone else and left Kaleb alone in the dormitory where he was now three hours later, laying on his bed on top of the covers staring up at his canopy, but not really seeing it. He couldn't think of anyone that could have done this because he didn't really know anybody at the school. It was still the second week of September and sure there were plenty of people that didn't like him because he 'corrupted Harry Potter' but nobody here seemed malicious enough to actually try to kill his best friend.

'_This sort of thing doesn't happen in schools like these! They happen in schools like Raascha. It doesn't even make sense; he's supposed to be saving everyone so why would they try to kill him? Unless, there's someone in the school, a student that's involved with the Death Eaters?'_ Kaleb sat up suddenly, his eyes wide. It made sense now. There was someone that was in the school probably a student that was somehow in contact with the Death Eaters and tried to kill Harry. That had to be it; it was the only thing that made sense. Kaleb got out of bed and looked at the time, one forty four in the morning. Kaleb grabbed a random book, he couldn't sleep there was no way, he was too riled up so he went down to the common room and read.

The next morning Kaleb got up and did his routine and went to go see Harry before his classes, skipping breakfast entirely. He was still asleep and he showed no sign of waking up anytime soon.

"You just can't keep yourself out of trouble can you Harry?" Kaleb said, smiling softly and shaking his head. He visited again at lunch and had every intention to spend it in the hospital wing but Madam Pomfrey made him go to the Great Hall to eat, since he missed breakfast. He wasn't concentrating on his classes, far too concerned over finding out who did this to Harry. The professors seemed to think it was just a freak accident, that Harry fell off one of the staircases, but Kaleb saw the bruises on his upper arm in the shape of fingers. He had pointed this out to the matron but she insisted that it was just from the fall.

Kaleb continued to visit Harry any chance he got, and couple of times he ran into people like Neville and a very strange blond girl that was in Ravenclaw. He'd met Tonks in the hospital wing once and had a nice chat with her beside Harry's bed before they both had to head to their classes. Once he saw Hermione leaving the hospital wing with an odd expression on her face and he became suspicious at once, but he did not make his presence known, instead stepping into the shadows. It wasn't until four days later that Harry woke up.

When Harry opened his eyes he closed them right away to shut out the bright whiteness. He tried again, slower this time and was able to squint a little and make out the curtain by his bed. He'd woken so many times in the hospital wing that he knew exactly what it looked like and so knew right away where he was and groaned.

"Harry!" a body flung itself on top of him and hugged him quickly and he gasped in surprise. When the person pulled back he saw it was Kaleb and relaxed immediately and smiled.

"Happy to see me are you?" he croaked. Kaleb just shook his head.

"You've been out for four days," Kaleb stated. Harry was surprised; he didn't think he'd been asleep that long. Kaleb looked tired and worried but extremely relieved.

"Do you remember anything?" the half demon asked in a low voice. Harry searched his memory and it came to him quickly. There were parts that were hazy, but he definitely remembered being physically thrown down the staircase and falling for what seemed to be forever and he remembered the impact that he felt when his body hit another staircase. The one thing that he did not know however, was who did it.

"Yeah, I remember it. I don't know who did it though, I never got the chance to see them because they surprised me, came up from behind," Harry was frustrated and by the look on Kaleb's face he knew that the other teen was as well.

"Right, well the teacher's seem to believe that it was a 'freak accident'. I met Tonks here once though and she didn't seem to be so convinced. You had some bruises on your arm here," Kaleb lightly touched Harry's upper arm. "It looked like someone had grabbed you really hard and I pointed them out to her. That was a couple days ago, they've healed now," Kaleb explained to Harry.

"Well I remember someone grabbing my arm really hard and then I struggled a bit but they overbalanced me and, well, I guess I fell then. Why would the teacher's think that it was an accident?" Harry asked.

"Well, like I said, Tonks was thinking along the same lines as me but the matron and Professor McGonagall keep saying it was an accident. There apparently was no evidence of someone having done this on purpose, except for the bruises which they decided to turn a blind eye to," Kaleb said bitterly. Harry frowned.

"Do you think Dumbledore's got them under his thumb as well?" he asked quietly.

"I wouldn't be surprised. What I don't understand is why they're ignoring this. Someone obviously wanted to hurt you," said Kaleb.

"Well what am I going to say? That someone came up behind me and purposely pushed me down a moving staircase?"

"Uh, yeah?" Kaleb frowned at Harry. "Why wouldn't you?" Harry just shook his head slowly.

"I dunno, I just have a feeling it wouldn't go over too well if I did. I mean, they'd probably brush it off. Nobody has fallen down those stairs that I know of, and even if they have it hasn't been for many years so why would they just assume that it was an accident? Just doesn't seem right to me," Harry muttered, lost in thought and confusion. Kaleb nodded, agreeing that it didn't quite add up.

"Well the only reason I can think of is that Dumbledore is a manipulative bastard, which we already knew, and he doesn't really care about your well being and wouldn't care if you fell off the face of the earth," the half demon grinned, showing he was joking…partly. Harry just half smiled and stretched, testing his healed injuries. He was a little sore, but other than that he felt perfectly fine and he couldn't wait to get out of the hospital wing.

"So did anyone else care to visit me, or does everyone hate my guts?" Harry asked lightly.

"Yeah actually, Neville visited a few times, Tonks like I said and some blond chick from Ravenclaw; she had a bit of a weird expression on her face," Kaleb replied.

"Oh, that was probably Luna. She's a little…odd, but she's a good friend. Definitely got a mind of her own that one," Harry chuckled. "Anyone else?" Kaleb hesitated a moment, wondering if he should tell Harry about Hermione visiting and decided he should.

"Well Granger showed up once that I know of. Had a bit of a weird look on her face too, kind of like she was there against her better judgment or she would be in trouble being there and, I dunno, something," Kaleb said.

"Hmm…that's odd, I wouldn't have expected her to visit. Maybe she's had a change of heart?" Harry sounded hopeful, and Kaleb gave him a weak smile. He knew Harry missed his friends, he would too. They talked for another couple minutes before the matron came to check up on Harry and exclaimed when she saw Harry awake.

"Why didn't you come get me? I should have known the second he was awake!" The woman reprimanded and bustled around to check Harry's vitals and make sure his wounds were completely healed and his brain's swelling had come down. Once she finished her checkup she gave him the clear to go but he wasn't allowed to join Quidditch practice today. He quickly changed from his hospital gown and left with Kaleb.

It was a Saturday morning and Harry was disappointed about missing Quidditch but he was not about to disobey the matron, she could become quite the dragon lady when she wanted to. Instead he told Kaleb he wanted to do some research in the library.

"Do you want me to come with you or no?" Kaleb asked. Harry smiled at his protectiveness.

"If it'll make you feel any better," He replied smirking at Kaleb.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that you're reminding me of Mrs. Weasley," Harry spoke smoothly and smiled innocently, knowing that Kaleb hated being referred to as a mother hen.

"Okay, okay, I'll back off for a bit, jeez," Kaleb grinned at him and made his way to the dungeons. He knew that Severus had heard of Harry's 'accident', but he figured he'd like to know that Harry was awake.

Harry walked at a leisurely pace to the library but kept himself aware of his surroundings. He doubted that anyone would try anything again just after he got out of the hospital wing, that would seem a little suspicious so he felt he didn't really have anything to worry about.

When he reached the library he walked towards the section of defense spells and hexes and looked around to make sure no one was watching him. He pulled a thin book down from one of the higher shelves that was very old and frayed. He brushed the dust off the spine of the book and read the title that was in tiny letter.

"Book of Curses," Harry muttered. He opened it and found that most of the pages were stained, folded ripped or burnt, rendering the text nearly unreadable. He frowned and put the little book back and searched some more. A few minutes later, he had an armful of books on curses and counter curses, protections spells and some that touched on the Dark Arts. He piled them onto a table in a corner of the library that was normally empty. He grabbed a book on protective spells and read the index. He read a title that seemed interesting and flipped to the page and began to read. Half an hour later he pushed the book away, it was mostly things that he had learned last year in Defense Against the Dark Arts and was very basic. He grabbed another book, this one called Curses and Their Counter's. He flipped to the first page and saw that it was a list of curses with their pronunciation, meaning, origin and effects and under each curse was its counter curse. He found that most of the spells were Latin and they were all dark spells. He wondered briefly why this book wasn't in the restricted section. He grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote down some spells that he thought to come in handy and their information.

Harry spent almost two hours in the library researching curses and protection charms before Kaleb found him and dragged him away from the library claiming that he had to eat something and rest.

"You're supposed to be taking it easy, remember?" Kaleb told him. Harry rolled his eyes.

"She only said that I wasn't allowed to go to Quidditch practice," Harry responded. Kaleb cocked an eyebrow at him, which he pointedly ignored.

"So I told Severus what happened," Kaleb stated. Harry gave him an odd look.

"Again with the first name, creepy," he said and shuddered. Kaleb huffed in amusement and continued, choosing not to reply to the comment.

"He reckons that we're right about it not being an accident. He said that he'd talk to Tonks and Remus about it when he gets a free moment. I've been thinking about it though, and I couldn't think of anyone that would hate you enough to actually attempt to kill you, or hurt you that bad at least and then I remembered," Kaleb stopped walking and turned Harry to face him.

"You remember on the train, you walked into that guy, the hot blond," Harry's eyebrows shot up at that but nodded his head.

"Well you two seemed to have a shaky past or something, I don't know you never mentioned him before. But I was thinking, maybe he was pissed off that you'd insulted him, pissed off enough to hurt you," Harry thought about it, and about all the other times that Malfoy tried to get the best of him and narrowed his eyes.

"It's a possibility, but I don't think we should go accusing anyone yet," Kaleb scoffed.

"Why not? Someone did it, we've got to accuse somebody so why not start with the one's that seem most likely and have a reason?" Kaleb countered. Harry just shrugged his shoulders, knowing that Kaleb was right but still not wanting to jump to conclusions.

"I guess," He said reluctantly. "I mean, his dad is a Death Eater so maybe it's his way of getting back at me for, well, everything," they threw people's names back and forth, people that seemed most likely, lest likely, people that Kaleb didn't know, people that Harry had never met. They brainstormed for about an hour before Harry yawned, unsuccessfully trying to stifle it.

"Come on, you can take a nap. I've been meaning to do some blades training for a while anyways," Kaleb pulled Harry up and tried to steer him towards the dorms but Harry turned around to face him, his head tilted in that cute ways of his.

'_Ugh, not again, don't think about that…'_ Kaleb had been trying very hard not to notice things like that but it seemed almost impossible.

"Blades training? Are you going to teach me that soon? Can I watch?" Kaleb laughed at Harry with good humor, reminded of an excited child.

"Firstly, you've got to become _at least_ mediocre at physical combat before you can do blades combat…and when I say mediocre I mean pretty damn good. Secondly, you shouldn't look so excited about blades training, it's painful, difficult and dangerous…I can see that gleam in your eyes! Thirdly, no you can't watch, you've got to rest," Kaleb crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Harry and smirked as the brunette pouted.

"You suck," he said before going up the stairs and throwing a grin over his shoulder half way up. Kaleb just shook his head in amusement and chuckled before going to the Room of Requirement. Harry had shown him where it was and how it worked the first week in school so that they could have peace and quiet while training.

Kaleb walked past the wall three times thinking, _'I need a place to practice blades,'_ and walked into the room. In it there was a wall lined with different blades weapons: daggers, swords, knives, there was a claymore and fencing swords. On the other side of the room there were three dummies made of wood and on the floor in front of the practice area, four pillowy cushions for people to sit and watch. It looked almost identical to the practice rooms that he had used in The Realm. He took off his shoes and clothes and thought of spacious sweat pants and a t-shirt and changed into those. He walked to the wall with the blades and decided to start with the sword. Although a dagger is smaller and much easier to handle, it is a bit riskier in the way that you have to get closer to the person that you are fighting to hurt them, therefore risking more damage to yourself. For Kaleb, a sword was the easier one to start off with, especially since he hadn't practiced in a long time. Kaleb did the mandatory stretches and warm up exercises before heading over to the dummies. He paused for a moment and closed his eyes while breathing deep. When he exhaled he opened his eyes and got into the ready position and willed the dummy to come to life. It was a poor job really; the dummy had horrible reflexes and wasn't lifelike nor was it really able to spar with him but for the mean time it would do.

Kaleb did this when he was stressed or really upset about something and right now, he was both. He was starting to feel out of control and if there was one thing that Kaleb hated, it was feeling out of control of himself. There were so many things that were going through his mind, and there were so many feelings that he wasn't familiar with. He was pissed off first and foremost because somebody had tried to jump him in the hall, alone, in the dark because they thought that he had corrupted Harry somehow, and secondly, he was pissed that someone had tried to kill his friend on the same night. Which brings him to Harry.

Kaleb was worried about him, and this was not something that Kaleb was used to. He had only ever been worried about one person in his life, his mom. Even his friend that he had in The Realm he was never worried about because she was a bit crazy and nobody dared to mess with her…even as a kid. So this is where Kaleb becomes uncomfortable, because he's worried and he's not really familiar with being worried and if he's worried that means that he cares for Harry…and not just as a friend. Thinking this, Kaleb lashed out quite viciously at the dummy and nearly severed its head off. He paused to catch his breath and switch weapons, moving onto the Samurai Sword. Now that he was holding a more violent weapon, he felt more in control and he began to circle another dummy, swirling the sword from side to side.

He couldn't believe it at first, and he even tried to straight out lie to himself about his feelings towards Harry but as we all know, the truth comes to bite us in the ass sooner or later, and it usually really sucks when it does. Kaleb first admitted it to himself the night after shopping in Diagon Ally, and he realized that his body could not lie, and he was definitely turned on by Harry but it was more than just lust, there were actual deep, true, heavy feelings towards Harry. Kaleb rolled his eyes at himself as he slashed relentlessly at the dummy, digging out huge chunks of wood.

'_C'mon mate, you're starting to turn into a girl, pull yourself together man,' _He tried to stop thinking and start dueling properly, because that was what he was here for, to clear his mind and keep in practice. He made side steps and lunges and fancy hand work while thrusting and slashing the sword again and again into the wooden dummy and once he had maimed one he moved onto another. Kaleb practiced until his arms felt as heavy as lead and he could hardly move without his muscles screaming at him. He hung the sword back in its place and changed back into his regular clothes, very slowly and exited the Room of Requirements. He made his way back to the dormitory for a long hot bath to soothe his muscle aches. When he entered the dorm, it was completely dark and looked over to Harry's bed and saw he had passed out on top of the covers. He smiled and shook his head.

"Yeah, and you told me you weren't tired," he uttered to himself. He went over to his bed and grabbed a spare blanket and put it over Harry and removed his shoes then headed to the bathroom for his bath.

~*~*~*~

Harry woke the next morning feeling completely rejuvenated and content. He opened his eyes, smiled and stretched while holding onto his blanket. He pulled it up and snuggled back into his bed for a moment and breathed deep. He noticed that his blanket smelt different, really different and pulled back a bit to look at it. Instead of the regular red comforter that he usually slept with he was holding a dark green blanket with brown threads woven in. It was warm like wool but it felt so soft, softer than cotton and he pulled it up to smell it again. He smelt sandalwood, musk and…something else that he couldn't place. It smelt delicious and he inhaled again and closed his eyes to savor the scent. His peaceful moment was abruptly interrupted by the bathroom door opening and he quickly sat up and groaned from the head rush.

"Hey, you're awake I see. Have a good sleep?" Kaleb walked through the door, steam billowing behind him. His hair was wet and droplets of water were dripping onto his white shirt. Harry blinked rapidly to make the little black dots go away and yawned.

"Mmhmm, yeah I did actually. I didn't realize I was so tired," he smiled at the half demon who smiled back and dumped his clothes on his bed.

"That's good. When I came back you were completely gone, fell asleep on top of the covers and everything so I put that blanket over you. I'll need it back though, kind of a sentimental thing," Kaleb said. Harry looked down at the blanket he was still holding.

"This is yours? Oh well thanks, here," he tossed it back to Kaleb, although he was a bit reluctant to. The teen folded it carefully and put it on the end of his bed. He stood up and went to his trunk and pulled out a stack of papers and plopped them down on Harry's bed.

"Here's all your homework that you've missed. I'm sure I've got everything there and I copied notes for you in the classes we have together. It's all fairly easy stuff…well to me at least," Kaleb grinned as Harry glared at him, knowing full well that he was much more advanced than Harry was in most of the subjects.

"Thanks," said Harry dryly. He stood and stretched again before grabbing some clothes and going to the bathroom and told Kaleb to head down to breakfast.

They made light conversation at breakfast, mostly just discussing what Harry had missed in class and what would be easiest to catch up on.

"So McGonagall has set a test on the rules and risks of transfiguring body parts for Tuesday and Tonks brought in a couple Chinese Imps to deal with on Friday, those were nasty little buggers they were. One almost bit off my bloody finger, then I accidently killed it…" Kaleb gave Harry a sheepish grin at that and Harry looked slightly alarmed before laughing at him.

"How'd you manage that? I thought they were supposed to be stronger than people? I bet Tonks wasn't too impressed," Kaleb just shrugged.

"Yeah, well, she gave me a little lecture but I'm pretty sure she was trying not to laugh the whole way through, her face kept twitching in an odd way. And I'm half demon remember?" Kaleb smirked and Harry just chuckled at his friend.

"So what else is there?" Harry asked.

"Not much really, just a bunch of notes and lectures and blah, blah, blah. All the boring stuff. Oh hey, I know today we're supposed to be doing the physical combat but if you're not feeling up to it that's fine," Harry looked at Kaleb as if he was crazy.

"Why would I not want to practice today? I'm fine, just because I fell down a couple floors doesn't mean that I'm a china doll. We'll practice; I really want to get that dodging technique down," Harry said firmly. Kaleb smiled at him.

"That's what I like to see! But seriously, if you start feeling dizzy or something we'll stop kay? Just 'cause you're fine now doesn't mean you'll be great later," Kaleb shook his head and smirked. "You know, you're an absolute magnet for trouble. You must have nine lives or something," Harry snorted.

"Yeah, right, I think it's more like twenty."

After breakfast they made their way to the Room of Requirement and after checking that no one was around, slipped inside. Their sparing room looked a bit like Kaleb's blades training room. It had dummies on the far wall and cushions on the floor in front of the practice area. There were beams and bars pushed up against the walls and a couple punching bags hanging in two corners. Harry and Kaleb transfigured their clothing into more suitable sparing attire and walked to the center of the room, the training area.

"Alright, so you wanted to keep practicing the dodging move that I showed you?" Harry nodded.

"Ok, watch me carefully, I'll do it once and I want you to repeat my movements exactly," Kaleb stepped back a bit and got in the fighting stance. He waited a moment and then quick as lightning, he threw himself to the left and rolled swiftly and came out of it landing on his feet in a crouched position. He stood straight and nodded at Harry. The brunette took a deep breath and took the same stance as Kaleb had. He tried to do the move as smoothly as Kaleb had but he didn't land quite right when he tried to roll and ended up having to steady himself when he came out of it with his hands on the ground. He grit his teeth and stood up straight, rubbing his arm where he landed funny. Kaleb was watching him with a critical eye and pursed his lips slightly.

"You're not going into the roll part of it properly, which is making you unbalanced. Try not to throw yourself so harshly and use your arms to direct your roll, push off with them instead of landing on them. Try it again," He sat down on one of the cushions while Harry took position. He did it once more and tried to follow Kaleb's advice. Although it looked very simple when Kaleb did it, the maneuver turned out to be quite difficult and a strain on Harry's body. He had accomplished how to fall properly as to cause minimal damage, but it was different when someone was pushing you off something than when you were throwing your body in a direction level with the ground. Harry tried the dodging tactic once more and failed miserably again. Kaleb told him to repeat it again so he did and he came out with the same result. Kaleb stood and walked over to him.

"Alright, let's try this. Get into position. Ok, now you're moving too harshly to the side, see your doing this;" and Kaleb copied Harry's movements. "When you're supposed to be doing this;" He repeated the proper movement again. "Your goal isn't to jump as far as you can out of the way, it's to give yourself momentum to roll far enough away and fast enough that you can get back on your feet and retaliate," He did the maneuver once again and turned to Harry who had a look of intense concentration in his features.

"Ok, I'll try it again," He closed his eyes and replayed Kaleb's movements in his head and concentrated on how he launched himself. He opened his eyes and took a breath and tried to copy the movements. He didn't land as hard on his arm and he tried to use it to help him push off farther into the roll and ended up over compensating and landed flat on his back. He heard Kaleb try to stifle a laugh and grumbled as he stood up and brushed his sweat pants off. How the hell did he do it so flawlessly?

"Ok, well you did better with the launching part and worse with the rolling part," He smiled at Harry and sighed.

"You'll get it, you're getting better. Remember when you first tried it?" Harry shuddered at the memory of landing on his elbow in a very odd way and cracking the joint and the blazing pain that had shot through his arm. Ever since the beginning of his melee practice with Kaleb he had taken to looking up some basic healing spells for cuts, scrapes, bruises and broken bones. He wasn't great at them but he was good enough and anything he couldn't fix he had Kaleb help him. It would be a little suspicious if he showed up in the Hospital Wing every weekend with a broken or dislocated bone and numerous bruises.

"Let's try it again," Harry said. He did it two more times and almost knocked himself out the second try when he hit the wall. He stayed on his hands and knees shaking his head trying to clear the humming in his brain. Kaleb walked over and pulled him up and looked at his eyes checking to see if his pupils were the same size.

"You alright?" he asked. Harry just nodded his head and sat down on the cushions and grabbed a bottle of water.

"I've been doing this for two weeks and I can't get it right. How long did it take you?" Harry asked Kaleb.

"About four days," he responded. Harry's eyebrows shot up and then he groaned and flopped down on the floor wincing when his head hit the ground.

"That is so not fair. Why is it taking me so long?" He grumbled. Kaleb just shrugged his shoulders.

"Everybody's different, some take longer, and some take shorter. There are a few things that took me months to perfect. Is your full concentration on the movements, or is your mind wandering?" Harry shook his head.

"That's just it, the only thing I've been thinking about is the way that you do it and how I can copy it. I can see it in my mind's eye but I can't put it into practice, you know?" Harry sipped at his water and gave a frustrated sigh. Kaleb frowned, if Harry was concentrating on it and knew how he was supposed to do it, why wasn't his body following his directions? Maybe he was just one of those people that were clumsy and didn't have much of an aptitude for physical training. But that didn't make sense, he played quidditch, and he was damn good at it. His reflexes were amazing and he always made it seem like he wasn't even on a broom he flew so well. He was graceful in his movements, quick and sure so why couldn't he do this? Then it clicked.

"Stand up, get into position," Harry quickly obliged and looked at Kaleb with curiosity.

"Figured something out?" Kaleb didn't respond but instead just stared at Harry. Finally he spoke.

"Think about the motions of the maneuver, quick," he waited a moment. "Now think fast!" he shot a spell at Harry and in a second the boy had flung himself sideways, rolled and landed on his feet, crouched. They both stared at each other for a moment before realization kicked in and Harry's eyes widened. He stood up and stared at where he was standing only a few seconds ago and back at Kaleb.

"What the…?" Harry sounded completely blown away. Kaleb grinned at him.

"You respond better to pressure, you make decisions in a split second and your reflexes are amazing. When you're in danger or are threatened you react rather than strategize. That's something that we should work on, but later on in your lessons. You did that perfectly!" Harry grinned and gave a whoop of joy.

"Finally! Took me long enough, thanks Kaleb!"

"Hey, no problem. Told you you'd get it soon enough," Harry stuck his tongue out childishly and Kaleb leaped at him. They landed on the floor in a heap of tumbling limbs and they wrestled for a few minutes before Harry surrendered, too tired to try and win when he'd already spent hours on leaping and rolling. They lay side by side on the floor, their heavy breathing the only sound in the room.

"So what are you gonna teach me next?" Harry asked after a while. Kaleb scrunched his nose slightly and hummed.

"I dunno, probably basic foot work and blocking or something like that. Have to think about it," They fell silent again and Kaleb felt a sense that Harry wanted to ask him something.

Harry was feeling a bit awkward. Ever since Kaleb had said "That hot blond" when talking about Malfoy he'd been wanting to ask him what he meant by that. Harry had gotten used to his teasing and innuendos but that was basically a right out confession. Finally he pushed aside his uneasiness and took his chance.

"Hey Kaleb?" the half demon hummed in acknowledgement.

"Do you remember yesterday when you said, um…Well you said that Malfoy was hot. Did you actually mean that or were you just, I dunno, joking around?" Harry didn't meet Kaleb's eyes and he felt his face grow a bit warm. He heard Kaleb shift a little, but the boy didn't answer right away.

"Yeah I did, why?" his tone was slightly cold and Harry knew that Kaleb thought that he was disgusted or uncomfortable. He quickly flipped over on his stomach to face him and looked at him in the eyes.

"I was just wondering. I don't care. Well I mean, I was a little shocked that you think Malfoy of all people was good looking but that's all really," Kaleb stared back looking for any sign of a lie and apparently couldn't see any and smiled slightly.

"Well he is, for a blond anyways. They're not usually my type but I wouldn't mind a little romp in bed with him," He gave Harry a wicked grin and a saucy wink and laughed when Harry's eyes bugged and he choked slightly.

"Oh ew…Malfoy? Seriously? Ugh," He fake shuddered and then grinned at Kaleb who shook his head at the teen.

"So does that mean that you're…?" Harry trailed off. Kaleb's eyebrow rose and his lips twitched.

"Gay?" he offered. Harry nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I'm gay. Don't worry; I'll save all the gory details for you," Harry rolled his eyes.

"Thanks," he said wryly. They were quiet for a moment and then Kaleb chuckled.

"I can't believe it took you that long to figure it out, shows how observant you are," he teased. Harry scoffed.

"Yeah, well I didn't know if you were just one of those guys that tease all the time or what. I mean, Seamus acts like that sometimes and as far as I know, he's not gay," Harry defended. Kaleb gave Harry a funny look.

"Seamus? The Irish guy? He's so obviously not gay it's not even funny. Although, his accent is kinda hot," Harry snorted laughter and shook his head. He got up and transfigured his workout clothes back to his original clothes and stretch and winced.

"Ouch, I stayed still for too long," he groaned.

"Oh stop your whining you pussy," Kaleb said. Harry shoved him lightly and grabbed his water bottle. They walked to lunch and had a mini food fight but stopped when Kaleb accidently threw a bit of mashed potato too far and hit some Ravenclaw kid in the back of the head. They snickered to each other and just talked for the rest of the lunch hour. Now that Kaleb had 'come out' to Harry he felt a lot lighter, and he was really happy that the teen didn't seem to mind. He felt like a layer of something keeping them slightly distanced from each other had been peeled away and they were that much closer to one another.

"Oh hey, he's good looking right? Why don't you go ask him out or something?" Harry subtly pointed to a boy around their height with light brown hair and tan skin. He had a nice face, wasn't the best looking bloke in the world but he was handsome enough. Kaleb caught a glance and turned back to Harry with an eyebrow cocked, a half smile on his face and mirth in his eyes.

"So now you're trying to play matchmaker are you? You're tired of me already?" Harry's eyes widened slightly.

"No! I just thought that maybe you'd want to hang out with someone or something or…I don't know!" Harry's expression was that of an irritated child and Kaleb couldn't help but laugh at him.

"Harry I'm teasing! He is pretty good looking yes, but I'm not interested in having a boyfriend at this moment…besides, I think almost everyone in this school hates me for 'corrupting you'," Kaleb said. Harry frowned.

"Who said that?" He asked. Kaleb's fork of mashed potatoes paused half way to his mouth. He hadn't told Harry about the Ravenclaw jumping him in the hallway.

"Well, Weasley's been saying it. You know that, and everyone is glaring at me, so he's obviously spread the rumor," He said smoothly. Harry narrowed his eyes at the half demon suspiciously.

"Oh yeah? Then why do I get the feeling that your lying, again," Kaleb flinched slightly at Harry's tone.

"Ok fine. Some guy tried to attack me when I was coming back from a meeting with Severus and blamed me for corrupting you. He said that Weasley had told a bunch of people that I was a Death Eater or something and I was trying to get you to become one or some kind of bullshit like that. It was the same night that you got attacked, so I didn't want to put any more stress on you, and I kind of forgot," Kaleb explained. Harry stopped eating and glared. Kaleb saw a muscle in the teen's jaw twitch and knew that he was really pissed off.

"Do you know who this guy was?" He asked tensely. Kaleb just shook his head.

"No I've never met him before, he was in Ravenclaw though. I think his name was…Davis? No, Daren, uh, Derrick! His name was Derrick something. I don't remember his last name. It's fine though, I scared the shit out of him and he hasn't even looked at me since so it's all good," Harry didn't relax though instead he became more tense.

"You don't think that our attacks could be related do you?" Harry asked. Kaleb put his fork down and stared at him.

"Shit, I didn't even think of that. He came at me from behind too, just like your attacker did. Either it was the same person or there were two and they tried to do us in or hurt us enough to knock us out without us seeing who it was. Why though? I mean he told me that it was because I had supposedly corrupted you…why would they attack you too?" Kaleb spoke in a whisper as not to attract attention to their conversation. It made enough sense except for attacking Harry, but it made sense.

"What time was it when he attacked you?" Harry asked.

"I don't know when it was when he attacked me but I got back in the dorm about half an hour before curfew, then I went to look for you and McGonagall found me and took me to the Hospital Wing to see you. What time was it when you were attacked?" Harry bit his lower lip and his brows furrowed.

"I'm not sure; I never looked at the clock. I was just heading back to the common room when I was attacked," Kaleb swore under his breath.

"We have to go to McGonagall and ask when you were found. Her or Madam Pomfrey,"

"Let's go to Pomfrey first," Harry said. "I don't think she's as close to Dumbledore as McGonagall," Harry said. They left the Great Hall quickly, but did not notice two pairs of eyes watching them, one pair blue, one pair black.

* * *

A/N: Eek! So sorry for the slow update! I just got two puppies imported from the states and they are a handful and a half! All my time at the moment is devoted to those two beautiful creatures and house breaking them. I'm writing whenever I have a spare moment which isn't often because I have school work to do, and a horse to look after that almost died this past weekend. But I'm trying I really am! Please keep reviewing it helps remind me that I have a story to write and people are waiting for updates and they also help to inspire. Thank you everyone that has reviewed and has been patient for these past couple of weeks.


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